Ex-minneapolis police officers’ August trial in George Floyd killing will be livestreamed
Trump fight against prosecutors may rely on adviser defense
Donald Trump is likely to fight any criminal charges stemming from a New York investigation of his taxes by claiming he relied on his lawyers and accountants to prepare documents and approve transactions, legal experts said.
Should Trump be accused of a crime, he may also claim his conduct is too stale to prosecute or wasn’t improper in Manhattan’s sharp-elbowed real estate industry, they said.
A case against Trump is “not going to be a slam-dunk,” said Samuel Buell, a Duke University law school professor and a former federal prosecutor. “People think there’s going to be documentary proof of fraud, but documents almost never get you all the way there, and Trump is a guy who has been careful about where he leaves his fingerprints.”
It’s been two months since Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. obtained Trump’s tax returns, intensifying an unprecedented criminal investigation of an ex-president.
Vance initially focused on the Trump Organization’s reimbursements of 2016 hush money payments made by Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, to women claiming to have had affairs with Trump. Since then, his probe has expanded into a broader review of the company’s dealings, including whether the Trump Organization lied to secure credit lines and tax breaks.
No charges have been filed, and they may never be because investigators may find no wrongdoing. But with Vance’s investigation in full force, legal experts have begun mapping out Trump’s potential defenses.
MINNEAPOLIS — The August trial of three former Minneapolis police officers charged with aiding and abetting George Floyd’s murder will be also livestreamed like that of their former colleague Derek Chauvin, who was convicted last week in the case.
Hennepin County District Judge Peter Cahill’s ruling last November allowing the livestreaming will apply to the Aug. 23 trial of J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, court spokesman Spenser Bickett said Wednesday. All three will be tried together in one trial. Former officer Derek Chauvin’s March 8 to April 20 trial was livestreamed across the world by several media outlets.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, whose office is leading the prosecution, declined to comment last week when asked whether he believed livestreaming Chauvin’s trial lent more credibility to the court process, and whether he supported livestreaming or recording other trials moving forward. His office previously resisted livestreaming the defendants’ trials.
“It’s the court’s prerogative,” Ellison said last week. “Just leave it right there.”
Cahill issued the order when the three defendants’ were expected to be tried in one trial with Chauvin. COVID-19 social distancing protocols later required splitting the trial into two. Jurors convicted Chauvin last Tuesday of all the counts against him — second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Kueng, Lane and Thao are each charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office wants to add aiding and abetting third-degree murder to each of their cases. The Court of Appeals will hear arguments on the issue on May 20.