CNN’s Jake Tapper has brutally fact-checked North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum’s stunning claim that former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial was based on a “business filing error” via Mediaite.
It has been noted that Trump is currently standing trial in New York on 34 charges of falsifying business records for paying off porn actress Stormy Daniels in the run-up to the 2016 presidential elections to keep her quiet about their alleged affair.
Trump is considered Burgum as one of many candidates for his vice presidential running mate. Tapper asked, “According to polling, a plurality of the American people think that President Trump did commit a crime when it comes to this case, and if you add in those who think it was unethical, but not illegal, it’s a vast majority. Let me just ask you, if Donald Trump becomes a convicted felon because of this case, will that affect your support for him for president?”
Burgum answered:
Well, if he becomes a convicted felon in this case, that’s just a travesty of justice, because, as I just said, when you’ve got a business filing error that is for something, that was, again it’s not illegal to pay people for non-disclosure agreements. That happens all the time. I’m sure this network and others have done that. So that’s not illegal. And then you’ve got a, you know, again, they’re trying to do this.
And, the only reason this trial is happening right now, it’s the one that could actually be brought forward. The other four couldn’t be brought, the other three of the four couldn’t be brought forward before the election. So, this one is largely intended to try to achieve a result before the election. And, then, you can be assured, as Americans would know, that any kind of appeal would be pushed unt after the election. So that’s why everybody sees this is politically motivated.
And, like I said, a filing error is not something that would affect the American people that are trying to put food on the table and gas in the car, it doesn’t affect hem. And, so, it this is why the outcome of this trial is not going to change a lot of people’s minds. It might actually, in some ways help President Trump because it reinforces the idea that the Biden administration is willing to use lawfare to try to attack a political opponent.
Tapper retorted, “There’s no evidence that Joe Biden has anything to do with this case from, brought forward by District Attorney Bragg, and you keep it’s referring to it as a filing error. I guess that’s one interpretation.
“Another interpretation is that Donald Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, paid hush money for, to hide from the American people before the election. The fact that Mr. Trump had had a rendezvous with a porn star, and that they wanted to hide that from the American people until after the election. So far the evidence and I’ve seen suggests was, at least, was some political motivation to this and they hid it so as to hide that from the public. That’s a little bit more than just checking wrong box on a form. But let’s move on.”
