Trump Wants ‘As Much Media Coverage as Possible’ for Hush Money Trial: CNN Report
(AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
Donald Trump wants as much media coverage as he can get with his hush money trial in Manhattan, according to a campaign talking points memo first reported by CNN.
Advisors told the network there is an effort to begin “blanketing the airwaves” with Trump allies and potential vice presidential picks to defend the former president against the more than 30 felony counts he’s facing. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting Trump over a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair. Trump denies any wrongdoing and the affair.
The former president attended his first day of trial on Monday. CNN reported that around this time is when his campaign circulated a talking points memo on the trial as the former president attends court. Sources familiar with the strategic talks said Trump wants “as much media coverage of his court appearances as possible.”
The “Biden Trial, Talking Points” memo tells allies to describe the trial as an “assault” on democracy and a “witch hunt” orchestrated by President Joe Biden.
The document also reportedly stresses avoiding the term “hush money” in reference to the trial. It describes the case instead as an “entries in the company’s records” situation.
Trump spoke to press before entering court on both the first and second day of his trial.
The talking points memo acknowledges that a conviction is possible, but stresses jail time is not. According to the document, Trump “faces no realistic threat of jail, even with a wrongful guilty verdict from the jury.”
Trump has plenty of defenders on the airwaves as he sits in court. Karoline Leavitt, his national press secretary, told Newsmax on Tuesday that the “communist” trial had made her lose “faith” in the United States. RNC co-chair Laura Trump, Donald Trump’s daighter-in-law, also lashed out during a Fox News interview at “deranged and disconnected” pundits on CNN and MSNBC covering the trial.
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