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Trump Team paid 9 key trial witnesses handsomely, says new bombshell report [1]

['Carla Sinclair']

Date: 2024-06-03  

Just days after Donald Trump became a convicted felon — the first former U.S. president to do so — the Trump Organization is now being accused of paying off nine witnesses who testified in his various criminal trials.

According to ProPublica, around the time that these nine witnesses were subpoenaed, they received significant financial perks from the Trump campaign, such as huge pay raises, sudden promotions, generous severance packages, and lots of good ol' fashioned cash.

For instance, one Trump campaign aide who was subpoenaed "had his average monthly pay double, from $26,000 to $53,500," reports ProPublica. "Another employee got a $2 million severance package barring him from voluntarily cooperating with law enforcement."

"And one of the campaign's top officials had her daughter hired onto the campaign staff, where she is now the fourth-highest-paid employee," the report continues.

But, although these sudden job opportunities and financial windfalls that witnesses received seem highly suspicious, busting the Trump Organization for witness tampering could be difficult to do. Especially when its head honcho, Donald Trump, will undoubtedly play his tried-and-true innocent dummy card, as he always does.

From ProPublica:

To prove witness tampering, prosecutors would need to show that perks or punishments were intended to influence testimony. … "It feels very shady, especially as you detect a pattern. … I would worry about it having a corrupt influence," Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, said after hearing from ProPublica about benefits provided to potential Trump witnesses. But McQuade said these cases are difficult to prove, even if the intent were actually to influence testimony, because savvy defendants don't explicitly attach strings to the benefits and would more likely be "all wink and a nod, 'You're a great, loyal employee, here's a raise.'" In response to questions from ProPublica, a Trump campaign official said that any raises or other benefits provided to witnesses were the result of their taking on more work due to the campaign or his legal cases heating up, or because they took on new duties. … Attempts to exert undue influence on witnesses have been a repeated theme of Trump-related investigations and criminal cases over the years.

And more details from Yahoo! News:

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