This could be the last chance for a conviction before election

Most legal pundits have downplayed Donald Trump’s hush payments trial as the weakest – and least consequential – of the four criminal cases ranged against him.

But increasingly the trial is looking like the US legal system’s best chance of landing a politically damaging conviction on Trump before the presidential election.

Endless delays and appeals by Trump’s lawyers mean that the other more serious cases – including alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election, conspiring to overturn his defeat in Georgia and mishandling classified documents, might not be heard before 5 November. So the hush payments case has assumed a particular importance.

The prosecution seems aware of this, as they headline their case as one in which the accused is guilty of electoral interference.

On Monday, prosecutor Matthew

Colangelo said the payments made to former porn star Stormy Daniels amounted to “a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election”.

Trump is accused of falsifying business records, which would only count as misdemeanours unless the alleged act could be tied to another crime. The prosecution was able to raise these charges to felonies by claiming the records were falsified to cover up state and federal election law violations.

Trump’s defence team has already mocked the idea that the case in which the charges revolve around record-keeping could seriously be considered an effort to illegally undermine an election.

“A spoiler alert: there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy,” Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said.

Richard Hasen, a UCLA law school professor, said the case did not compare with the other election-related criminal cases.

Prosecutors were calling the case election interference “because that boosts what may be the only case heard before the election”, he said.