Trump trial: Verdict now, law later

The prosecution in the Trump hush money trial apparently plans to rest its case on Friday after the testimony of Michael Cohen.

The news is surprising. It’s highly unusual for prosecutors to rest without introducing at least some evidence showing that the charges against the defendant are valid. Former President Donald Trump apparently is an unusual defendant.

Everyone knows the theme of the prosecution: Trump conspired to corrupt the 2016 election, and then the conspiracy covered it up with fake business records. 

But he’s not charged with corrupting the election. Or conspiracy. What he’s charged with are 34 violations of a New York business record-keeping statute. Those counts relate to three categories of records: invoices from Trump lawyer Cohen (11 counts), checks written by Trump to pay those invoices (11 counts), and ledger entries recording the transactions (12 counts).