Fox Legal Editor Kerri Urbahn said Tuesday that presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump should “own” his payment to former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels at his Manhattan trial.
Trump faces 34 criminal charges brought by New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg regarding alleged falsified business records relating to a payment for a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels. Urbahn told “Fox & Friends” co-hosts she would advise the former president to take ownership of the payment to Daniels because they were “not illegal.”
“Kerri, I know you’ve been in there every day. Is there anything you would do differently if you were Donald Trump’s attorneys?” Fox News co-host Ainsley Earhardt asked.
“So the one thing I’m a little bit surprised about is why not just own the fact that, yes, I paid, this woman, you know, this compensation for this NDA, it’s not illegal,” Urbahn said. “Yes, there were discussions about catch-and-kill schemes, not illegal. Yes, I didn’t want bad stories about myself, you know, especially when it came to women. Not illegal. So why are we here? This is a court of law. There are crimes. Elements need to be proved.”
“And one thing I’ve picked up on, I was thinking about yesterday. I was sitting with Lydia Hu, one of our Fox Business correspondents in the courtroom. She does a great job,” Urbahn continued. “We were talking about this element of intent to defraud that comes with the falsifying business records charge, and we were talking to each other and saying, well, who was he intended to defraud? The American people? Because if that’s the case, what about all the politicians that make promises that they never keep? We’re going to lower taxes. We’re going to close the partisan divide. You know, we’re going to we’re going to solve the energy crisis.”
“And if they don’t execute those promises, were they defrauding people when they ran?” Urbahn asked. “And is the, are there grounds? If there were some kind of it attached to a payment somewhere, you know, it’s quite something.” (RELATED: Jonathan Turley Says Alvin Bragg Is Trump’s ‘Best Lawyer,’ Fox News Host Immediately Laughs)
Daniels took the witness stand Tuesday to testify in Trump’s trial about the $130,000 payment made ahead of the 2016 election for her silence regarding her alleged extramarital affair with Trump in 2006. Judge Juan Merchan denied Trump’s request in March to prevent Daniels and former attorney Michael Cohen from testifying.