Opening statements suggests that Alvin Bragg is attempting to prove Trump conspired to steal the 2016 election by paying off Stormy Daniels and then covering up the evidence with a murky attorney's bill?
“The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again,” Colangelo reportedly said.
So it was a big problem for Bragg and Colangelo when the Judge determined that they could not use Michael Cohen to suggest that Trump violated campaign finance laws. So instead it would appear that they are going to argue that he committed a crime by hiding his sexual affairs with the use of non-disclosure agreements. Apparently this was a "criminal scheme" to corrupt the 2016 elections. What specific crime was committed is a little vague since there is literally no law (or could there ever be) against Candidates for office trying to hide bad things about themselves, nor is their any law against the use of non-disclosure agreements (even if you call it hush money).
Not sure yet if they will render into the realm of campaign finance laws or not. They may still try to "suggest" that this was another potential crime that was being covered up. But it looks like the play at this point is 2016 election fraud that Trump was never charged for.
Apparently Colangelo is using the same charge stacking logic to presume that every single payment to Cohen was a designed criminal action, which is why he suggested that he "lied" on his business records "over and over and over".
There are not more than a few judges in the entire country that would be allowing this argument to be made in a court. There may not be a single judge who would allow it if the criminal defendant wasn't Trump.