At this “charging conference” the judge is taking suggestions for what the jury should learn following closing statements next week.
Following Justice Juan Merchan’s orders, the defense team has started to tackle the potentially key question of how the federal law, specifically the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), interacts with the New York state allegations against Trump, which involve the falsification of company documents.
According to defense attorney Emil Bove, the court should inform the jury that, according to federal law, in order to convict Trump of felony for the business-records counts, they must determine that he coordinated with others to “willfully” violate FECA.
According to Bove, “it’s only a crime if it has a criminal object” to break New York election law. “A civil conspiracy is the most you can say when dealing with a noncriminal violation.”
Bove expressed concern that this could lead to an erroneous jury conviction for Trump. “That’s something that really worries us,” Bove stated.
New York state law permits criminal convictions when the defendant employs “unlawful means,” according to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo. This includes the intent to conduct a civil violation of FECA.
According to Colangelo, “unlawful” does not imply criminal but rather a breach of the law.
There was no quick decision from Merchan, but he did imply he might be moving toward Trump’s camp.