Local experts react to indictment of fmr. President Donald Trump
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- After former President Donald Trump appeared in criminal court in New York Tuesday afternoon, the public got to read the charges against him as the indictment was unsealed.
Temple University law professor Craig Green read through the documents moments after they were made public.
"It recites over and over again that this is a felony fraud to protect the commission of another crime and then it lists like a check number or an invoice number - when the actual document was defrauded in order to do this thing," said Green.
He added the details of the charges weren't a big surprise.
"It all surrounds a broad scheme to hush money for Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, which operated through former President Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen," said Green.
According to the Manhattan district attorney, Trump repeatedly falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from voters during the 2016 election.
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump pleads not guilty to 34 felony counts; indictment unsealed
Trump spoke to supporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate hours after he was arraigned.
"God bless you all. I never thought anything like this could happen in America," were Trump's first words.
Trump claimed the "fake case" was brought "only to interfere with the upcoming 2024 election" and said it should be "dropped immediately."
Now the 2024 presidential election looms with an indicted candidate.
Chimdi Tuffs, former Philadelphia and New York assistant district attorney, says a case like this - which involves a ton of paper work as evidence - could pose as a real challenge when it comes to a jury for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
"Whether or not the jury can take notes, that has to be decided before the trial. Whether or not they can't and just have to sit there and listen to everything and decide each individual count at the end of the trial, that can be overwhelming," said Tuffs.
But she says there also is the potential strategy of quantity here.
A potential jury would have the task of deciding if Trump is guilty or not on each of the 34 separate counts.
But all the prosecution needs is one unanimous decision on one of the counts for Trump to face punishment.
"It would be a conviction on one count, and again the penalty could be up to four years in prison," added Tuffs.
Ben Dworkin, director of Rowan University's Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship, says this case could very well last through the election.
"What we know from Donald Trump's past actions when he's been charged with crimes, that he delays. When he's been sued, it's about delay. Deny and delay," said Dworkin.
He also says the charges against him will likely become a part of Trump's campaign.
"He plays the victim. You know: 'They're not just coming after me, they're coming after you, my supporters.' And this has rallied people to his side," said Dworkin. "This is something I think we expect to see."
As for how all this will affect Republican voters in primaries one year from now, Dworkin says it's far too early to say.
