Professor Gregory Germain spoke with Salon after the first witness, former National Enquirer chairman David Pecker, was called in the Trump hush money trial.
Germain said how Pecker’s role in the hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels “relates to the charges against Trump” is “not clear.” He emphasized that the former president’s charges pertain to falsifying business records in connection with Daniels’ payoff. “I don’t see how the ‘catch and kill’ scheme is relevant to the business records charges, except maybe to show that Trump was trying to hide negative information from the public.”
To prove the charges against the former president, the prosecution “must show” that Trump falsified them “to commit fraud on someone” and “hide a separate independent crime,” Germain explained, reiterating he doesn’t see Pecker’s testimony relating to the “elements that the prosecution has to prove.”