During a court session on Friday, a paralegal working for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg confessed that the office had deleted certain call records between Michael Cohen, a witness, and Dylan Howard, the attorney for adult film actress Stormy Daniels (also known as Stephanie Cliffords). The revelation has raised concerns about the possibility of the prosecutors having provided misleading information to the court.
During Trump’s trial, his legal team was able to confirm that some calls were erased from an exhibit of calls. Witness Jaden Jarmel-Schneider stated that it was about three pages of records. Although Jarmel-Schneider objected to Trump’s lawyer Emil Bove characterizing the call deletions as “significant,” he did acknowledge that some calls were removed.
Jarmel-Schneider confirmed in court that certain phone records from 2018 between Michael Cohen and Keith Davidson (attorney for Ms. Clifford) had been deleted. Additionally, records of conversations between Ms. Clifford’s manager Gina Rodriguez and former National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard regarding her claim of an affair with Trump were also among the deleted data.
Bove claimed that the redactions made to the phone records were considerable, but Jarmel-Schneider disagreed with this evaluation. The prosecutors have submitted these phone records as evidence in support of their claim that the alleged affair, which President Trump has denied, occurred. They also assert that the former president created false business documents to hide alleged payments made to Clifford in exchange for her keeping silent.
Trump denies wrongdoing and says the case is politically motivated to derail his 2024 campaign. The incomplete records submitted earlier may have been misleading. Manhattan court’s recent development is significant.
Meanwhile, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey last week presented what he says is evidence linking the Department of Justice under President Joe Biden to Democratic prosecutors at the local and state levels who were prosecuting former President Donald Trump.
According to Fox News, Bailey, a Republican, stated that his office would file a Freedom of Information Act request with the DOJ. The request seeks to uncover “activity and/or communications between Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Special Prosecutor Jack Smith or Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis related to the investigation or prosecution.” He pointed to Matthew Colangelo’s transition from being the third-highest ranked official at the DOJ to Bragg’s office, where he assisted in prosecuting Trump in his hush money trial. The trial, involving the former president, continued into its 14th day on Friday.