Trump’s attorneys appear to be setting up an argument that their client was the innocent victim of a team of sleazy blackmailers and their enablers. For the average person, this approach might work, even if it isn’t technically responsive to the elements in the alleged crime. Is it likely to work for Trump?
There are three problems that are unique to this defendant. First, he was an enthusiastic participant in tabloid culture, not an innocent; second, he made a public display of his sex life back in the old days; and third, he wants to portray himself as the omniscient boss in “The Apprentice” to make the base happy. How is arguing that you were manipulated by Stormy Daniels, her attorney, and Cohen going to square with that image?