Paralegal Deleted Call Records in Trump Case Files

(LibertySociety.com) – Former President Trump’s legal team cried foul during court proceedings on May 10 after Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s paralegal, Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, admitted to deleting call records. The prosecution submitted a series of call records as evidence for the trial but did not disclose that some had been deleted. One exhibit included a record of phone conversations between Dylan Howard and Gina Rodriguez, a former editor for the National Enquirer and then-publicist for Stormy Daniels, respectively.

Jarmel-Schneider was called to testify about a recorded conversation between Trump and Michael Cohen, where the two discussed the hush money payments to Daniels. The former president’s team argued that the recording had been doctored by Cohen, pointing out that it ended abruptly. Prosecutors used the paralegal’s testimony to claim that Cohen had stopped the recording because he received another phone call 22 seconds after the recording stopped. Trump’s legal team did not buy the explanation but also questioned Jarmel-Schneider about the deleted call records.

The paralegal admitted that Bragg’s office had, in fact, deleted some of the call records between Howard and Rodriguez. Trump’s attorney, Emil Bove, asked Jarmel-Schneider if he was “the guardian of the toll records,” to which the paralegal disagreed with the characterization, and said, “but if you say so.” Bove also questioned Jarmel-Schneider about a text message related to a call between Hope Hicks and David Pecker, the then-CEO of American Media. Bove asked the paralegal to confirm that there was no toll record of the phone call, but he said he could not remember. Jarmel-Scheider also said that he understood that only the call summaries related to the trial would be submitted as evidence.

The prosecution rested its case on May 20 after finishing up with Cohen. This case is one of four criminal cases against the former president, although it is likely that none of the others will be tried before the November presidential election.