Below is my column in Fox.com on the indictment of former President Donald Trump and how this case is a test not just for Trump but the New York legal system.
Here is the column:
Oscar Wilde once said “The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself.”
With the release of the indictment of former President Donald Trump, Manhattan District Alvin Bragg has revealed himself as a follower of the Wilde school of legal thought. Bragg knew that he had no criminal case against Trump. However, after running on bagging Trump for some crime (any crime), Bragg knew that many would not care if he had a basis for a criminal charge. He would be lionized to be the first person to ever indict a former president in the blind rage against Trump.
After charging Trump with 34 counts, Bragg insisted that he will convict Trump of the “crime to promote a [political] candidacy through unlawful means.” He insists that he will prove “attempts to violate state and federal election laws.”
For months, many have raised objections to the effort of the Manhattan District Attorney to use a flawed legal theory to essentially litigate a federal election violation that the Justice Department opted not to charge. This bootstrap theory has been widely criticized, but many in the media sought to cut off that debate by suggesting that Bragg might be basing his prosecution on some unknown crime. Last week, Michael Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis went as far to “warn all the pundits and everyone speculating…that there are lots of facts, lots of documents, lots of evidence of multiple crimes.”
We now have the indictment, and it is basically what many of us anticipated. It is a series of stacked counts of falsifying business records for the purpose of influencing the election. The indictment seems to address the lack of legal precedent with a lack of specificity on the underlying “secondary” felony. Bragg has done nothing more than replicate the same flawed theory dozens of times. This is where math and the law meet. If you multiply any number by zero, it is still zero.
If the New York bench retains any integrity, this case will be thrown out as legally improper with an admonition to Bragg and his office for politicizing the criminal justice process. That, however, may be asking a lot of state judges who are elected on both the trial and appellate levels. They also may prove to be lawyers on the Wilde side.
The cost, however, to the legal system will be immense. In a single indictment, Alvin Bragg bulldozed any high ground that the Democrats had after January 6th. He has fulfilled the narrative of the Trump campaign by supplying a raw and undeniable example of the politicization of the legal system. What is most shocking is that this attack on the rule of law was met with the rapturous applause of many, including lawyers and legal pundits. They not only will ignore the affront to the integrity of our legal system, but celebrate its demise.
Bragg himself threw a flag on the effort to indict Trump being pushed by a lawyer brought in as a special assistant district attorney for that purpose. Mark F. Pomerantz and his colleague Carey R. Dunne resigned — and their resignation letter was then leaked to an eager media. Pomerantz then took a step that floored many of us: he wrote a tell-all book based on the still ongoing investigation. However, Pomerantz admits that career prosecutors balked at his radical proposals to find a crime — any crime — to nail Trump. That included an entirely bonkers money laundering charge against Trump where he would be the victim of an extortion effort. In his book, Pomerantz admits that “many of the lawyers were relentlessly negative.” Some prosecutors were clearly so upset by his efforts that they “defected” from the team. He also admitted that Bragg told him “that the consensus among the group of prosecutors with whom he had been speaking was not to go forward.”
Despite objections from his colleagues who said he was undermining their efforts, Pomerantz published a book making the case against an individual who was not charged, let alone convicted. It was a grossly unprofessional and improper act. It also worked. Bragg caved to the overwhelming pressure that followed. If figures like Pomerantz was going to yield to temptation, why shouldn’t he? After all, no one wants to be the last ethical lawyer when everyone else is cashing in.
I remain hopeful that there is still a modicum of judicial integrity in New York to stand against this effort. However, this is a defining moment for many who have rationalized this abuse of the criminal justice system. For those attorneys, they have reached the point described by Robert Oppenheimer after the development of the atomic bomb. He stated “In some sort of crude sense which no vulgarity, no humour, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is a knowledge which they cannot lose.”
The same is true for many in our profession. While some of us have warned that Mar-a-Lago could present a serious threat to Trump, we have warned that the Bragg prosecution is the denial of the core legal principle of blind justice. This expensive, drawn out effort would not have occurred for anyone other than Donald Trump. It is not just selective prosecution, it is exclusive prosecution for Trump and Trump alone.
There is a good-faith debate over whether the President should be charged over conduct related to Mar-a-Lago and possible obstruction of justice. This is not that case. For those lawyers applauding this ignoble moment, this is our sin as a profession, and it is “knowledge which they cannot lose” in the years to come.
Former VP Mike Pence won’t appeal a summons to testify for Jack Smith’s January 6th probe. Pence’s testimony could be damaging to Trump. That deposition might happen this month.
Pence may have to describe the pressure Trump put on him to delay the 2020 vote count. And no one will be able to say that such testimony was ‘politically motivated’.
Why not? Pence is running for the Republican nomination.
And what crime would that be?
And what would have been wrong in asking Mike Pence to delay a vote count?
This is a lose, lose situation for the DirtyDemocrats.
Alvin Bragg et al. are the very personifications of “discordant intermixture” creating “injurious tendencies.”
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“The influx of foreigners must, therefore, tend to produce a heterogeneous compound; to change and corrupt the national spirit; to complicate and confound public opinion; to introduce foreign propensities. In the composition of society, the harmony of the ingredients is all-important, and whatever tends to a discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.”
– Alexander Hamilton
OT: For Svelaz to help get him up to speed. A monuments task doomed to fail.
https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/columbus-school-district-bought-controversial-gender-books-its?utm_source=daily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter
Columbus school district bought controversial gender books for its libraries
Some are concerned the books include sexually explicit content, including specific references to oral sex.
Books
The Columbus Public School District purchased many controversial books on gender in 2022, including “Gender Queer,” a novel at the center of a national debate on what is being presented in public school libraries to children.
The Center Square submitted a public records request for the books the district purchased in 2022, and the list included: “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” “Beyond The Gender Binary,” “Gender Queer,” “New Queer Conscience”, “My Rainbow,” “Sparkle Boy” and “They, She, He, Easy As ABC.”
The books “My Rainbow,” “Sparkle Boy” and “They, She, He, Easy As ABC” were purchased for the elementary school library.
The Amazon description of “Sparkle Boy” reads: “Here is a sweet, heartwarming story about acceptance, respect, and the freedom to be yourself in a world where any gender expression should be celebrated.”
GoodReads.com wrote of “They, She, He, Easy As ABC”: “As the dance begins the kids proclaim, ‘No one left out and everyone free,’ in a sing-song rhyme about inclusion.”
Penguin Random House Elementary Education described “My Rainbow,” as “A dedicated mom puts love into action as she creates the perfect rainbow-colored wig for her transgender daughter…”
The non-profit Parents Defending Education flagged the book “All Boys Aren’t Blue” – which was purchased for the high school library – for its sexually explicit content, including specific references to oral sex.
The books were categorized by elementary, middle and high school libraries, but the school district doesn’t have further rules about checking books out.
“The district does not have a policy in regard to access to books for students,” Jacqueline Bryant, the director of communications for the Columbus Public School District, said in an email to The Center Square. “Books purchased for library media centers are checked out under the supervision of a library specialist or library instructional assistant.
“The district’s office of academic services is currently working on its process for the selection of library materials based upon the American Library Association guidelines for school libraries,” Bryant added.
The former chairman of the Federal Elections Commission has explained the law quite well. You may pay for a number of things to positively influence voters, such as whitening your teeth or buying new and more upscale suits specifically for campaign debates. These are NOT campaign finance expenditures. They are personal expenditures even though they are made to influence voters. He went so far as to say it would be illegal to use campaign money for such things. That would also apply to negative matters you wish to keep quiet that would negatively influence voters. Rather, he said, a campaign expenditure really needs to be for things directly associated with a campaign — like campaign adds. He stated it would be illegal to use campaign funds for hush money.
There is an exception. The Trump exception notes that they are considered campaign funds if they land Trump in jail.
The General Counsel of the FEC ruled it was illegal.
The FEC issued no such finding. There is no official ruling. Although even if you had an official ruling that it was illegal, you’re never going to be able convince a reasonable person that Trump had the requisite intent. He doesn’t know that statutes. He’s a game show host.
You’re wrong: https://www.fec.gov/files/legal/murs/7313/7313_19.pdf
And your conjecture about what reasonable people can be convinced of is only that: a conjecture, not a fact.
You are right Stevej about intent. When ATS starts linking and uses double talk, you can be happy you are right.
The General Counsel “ruled” it was illegal? How does a member of the staff make a ruling?
SteveJ – can you refer us to this discussion?
“IF NEARLY HALF OF BLACKS ARE NOT OK WITH WHITE PEOPLE…THAT’S A HATE GROUP.”
– SCOTT ADAMS
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“Elon Musk tweets support for ‘Dilbert’ creator”
Elon Musk defended “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams. Last week, Adams called Black Americans a “hate group” and suggested that White people should “get the hell away” from them. His comments came in response to a poll from the conservative firm Rasmussen Reports that said 53% of Black Americans agreed with the statement, “It’s OK to be White.” In response to a tweet about the controversy, Twitter owner Musk said Sunday that the “media is racist.” Musk said that for a “very long time, US media was racist against non-white people, now they’re racist against whites & Asians.”
“Same thing happened with elite colleges & high schools in America,” Musk wrote. “Maybe they can try not being racist.”
– CNN Business, February 27, 2023
_____________________________
“Get the hell away from black people.”
“Black people are a hate group.”
– Scott Adams, Dilbert
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Alvin “And The Chipmunks” Bragg Present A Heartfelt Thank You (Sarc)
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Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964–65. The term was first coined during a 1964 commencement address by President Lyndon B. Johnson at the University of Michigan[1] and came to represent his domestic agenda.[2] The main goal was the total elimination of poverty and racial injustice.
– Wiki
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UNCONSTITUTIONAL
LBJ forced America to “yield to temptation” – to spend $30 trillion+ (to date) on useless waste, presented as charity, under the fraud of the Marxist “Great Society” American taxation plan.
LBJ attempted to remove the onus from himself as he was headed to prison over the Billie Sol Estes criminal affair, and after LBJ was part and parcel of the JFK assassination.
LBJ was the worst kind of sinner, yielding to the worst kind of temptation.
Americans were never intended to be provided “free stuff,” Americans were intended to be provided freedom.
https://youtu.be/ULx9k2QkL94
YOU WERE DUPED AND LED DOWN THE GARDEN PATH BY VEILED COMMUNISTS
Alvin Bragg is a criminal engaging in illicit fraud, dereliction, malicious prosecution, abuse of power, usurpation of power et al.
Obama and Harris were never eligible for the offices of president and vice president.
The American population is illegitimate consisting of illegal alien foreign invaders to whom the Founders denied entry.
The vote was intended to be restricted by criteria.
Financial assistance and affirmative action are unconstitutional.
Lincoln threw the baby out with the bathwater; Lincoln threw the Constitution out with reprehensible slavery, which must have been abolished by legal means.
The entire communist American welfare state is unconstitutional.
Jsssh, take your meds, George.
Alvin Bragg is a shining example of why “qualified immunity” must be eliminated. This nation operated just fine until 1982 or so when before that, no qualified immunity existed. Today it exists by legal precedent, not by written law enacted by lawmakers, rather by judicial activists protecting themselves. Ironic we see cases such as in this link existing today.
https://thecivilrightslawyer.com/
This nation operated just fine until 1860 when a dictator seized power, impose unconstitutional marital law, conducted a “Reign of Terror” and commenced the incremental implementation of the principles of communism in America. Lincoln threw the baby out with the bathwater; Lincoln threw the Constitution out with reprehensible slavery, which must have been abolished by legal means, and fundamental immigration law, the immigration law of the Founders, required Americans to be “…free white person(s)…” to avoid the “injurious tendency” of “discordant intermixture.”
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“The influx of foreigners must, therefore, tend to produce a heterogeneous compound; to change and corrupt the national spirit; to complicate and confound public opinion; to introduce foreign propensities. In the composition of society, the harmony of the ingredients is all-important, and whatever tends to a discordant intermixture must have an injurious tendency.”
– Alexander Hamilton
Thank you to the good Professor Turley for providing this site for everyone to vent.
Of course, I know no more than any of us what is the “new” information/evidence that Braggs spoke of yesterday. But this much I am confident of: That if every member of higher government were to suffer the “turning of every stone” to find some piece of dirt on him or her, -especially regarding any attempts to quash/squelch negative information or even pay for someone’s silence, in order to advance a political career, —our nation would be on its way to Mecca, without an oar or a map.
Selective investigation and selective prosecution seldom serve to advance either compliance or remorse. I would argue that they instead breed resentment and retaliation.
“Mexican president slams Trump indictment, says case brought for ‘political purposes’ ”
https://justthenews.com/world/latin-america/mexican-president-slams-trump-indictment-says-case-brought-political-purposes
“Mexican President Andres Manuel López Obrador derided the prosecution of former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying that legal proceedings ought not to be used to influence elections.”
That’s a pretty accurate snapshot of where we are in the USA at this moment in time — getting and DESERVING a lecture from the President of Mexico on what NOT to do if you want to have legitimate elections.
I suspect that the comments also reflect a pragmatic expectation that Trump will win reelection in 2024.
He’s right. The US is fast losing the title of the Leader of the Free World with comments from foreign leaders showing their disdain.
El Salvador President: Nayib Bukele on Twitter: “Think what you want about former President Trump and the reasons he’s being indicted. But just imagine if this happened in any other country, where a government arrested the main opposition candidate. The United States ability to use “democracy” as foreign policy is gone.” / Twitter
Things are bad when a Banana Republic calls us a Banana Republic
Worse, because we can’t even afford bananas. We’re a banana republic wiith no bananas:
Here’s the problem, Professor–once you say that what is happening to Trump is utterly lawless, you undercut the government’s moral authority to require him to submit to it. What right does the government have to force someone to endure an unconstitutional prosecution?
None whatever. This is certainly the most lawless administration I have ever witnessed in the US – and I’ll be 65 in a couple of weeks.
There is no Law.
There is no Justice.
There is only the powerful, the privileged,
and the rest of us.
The “rest of us” just need to adopt this perspective;
then it all makes sense.
Obama was fined for egregious violations.
“Obama Campaign Fined Big for Hiding Donors, Keeping Illegal Donations
The FEC levied one of its largest fines ever against Obama’s campaign committee, new documents show.”
Hillary’s campaign paid for the fabricated Steele Dossier, and lied about it.
Her campaign and the DNC were fined for egregious violations.
Hunter Biden collects tens of millions from corrupt regimes around the world.
Not even a concern in the world. He’s done nothing “wrong.” Leave him alone!
Trump is being politically persecuted by Fat Alvin and the rest of the corrupt system.
If he’s right, then Bragg will fail to convict, and Trump/Trumpists shouldn’t worry.
If Jonathan is correct this will never come to trial… it’ll be dismissed by the Judge(s) as improper.
God Save America.
Andrew McCarthy crushes the indictment in a column today that is devastating to Bragg. McCarthy goes through the indictment claim by claim and utterly tears it apart and he ends by calling it idiotic. But of course what doe McCarthy, Turleyand even Andrew McCabe on CNN and every other honest legal mind know when we have expert non-lawyers like Svelaz and Anonymous telling us it is fine.
I particularly like this part of McCarthy’s note: “Here, the indictment fails to say what the crime is. Bragg says he is charging Trump with felony falsification of records, under Section 175.10 of New York’s penal code. To establish that offense, Bragg must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump caused a false entry to be made in his business records, and did so with an intent to defraud that specifically included trying to “commit another crime or aid or conceal the commission” of that other crime.
**Nowhere in the indictment does the grand jury specify what other crime Trump fraudulently endeavored to commit or conceal by falsifying his records.** That is an inexcusable failure of notice. The indictment fails to alert Trump of what laws he has violated, much less how he violated them. If any prosecutor were ever daft enough in the future to accuse Trump of falsifying records to conceal, say, a federal campaign-finance crime, Bragg’s indictment would be useless for double-jeopardy purposes because it doesn’t specify what criminal jeopardy Trump is in.”
“**Nowhere in the indictment does the grand jury specify what other crime Trump fraudulently endeavored to commit or conceal by falsifying his records.** That is an inexcusable failure of notice.”
So much for the Sixth Amendment.
Indeed. Are they just not teaching the Constitution is THE foundational legal document that all legislation and legal action must abide in Law Schools anymore?
This thing goes way beyond Trump and way beyond New York. From coast to coast, leftist Democrats and RINOs are using the FBI, the DOJ, the DOD, the intelligence community, Big Tech, Big Media, K-12, the universities, and big city machine politics to crush populists. The only hope for the future is at the ballot box–trusting that a tsunami of populist votes will overwhelm the cheating—and in the federal courts, which were reinvigorated by Trump with over 230 new judges and three new Supreme Court justices, virtually all of whom have respect for the Constitution.
A bit of history for the uneducated and disinformed Democrats out there:
The Republican Party freed the slaves.
The Republican Party gave people the right to vote. 🔥
“…TO OURSELVES AND OUR POSTERITY…”
THE SOULLESS BARBARIAN KILLED AMERICANS, SUFFICIENT TO CLAIM VICTORY – THAT “VICTOR” WROTE THE HISTORY BOOKS
The republican party was the liberal party.
Democrats were the freedom-loving, patriotic constitutionalists who must have been disabused of their notion of the “appropriateness” of slavery.
“Crazy Abe” Lincoln had no authority and illegally and unconstitutional confiscated deeded and receipted private property.
“Crazy Abe” threw the baby out with the bathwater; “Crazy Abe” threw the Constitution out with reprehensible slavery, which must have been abrogated by legal means.
A bit of history for communists. Turnout in 1788 was 11.6%. Vote criteria were male, European, 21, 50 lbs. Sterling/50 acres. Immigration criteria required citizens to be “…free white person(s)….” Never was America intended to be a one man, one vote “dictatorship of the proletariat.” America was to provide freedom to citizens through the Constitution supported by an infinitesimal governmental structure.
Karl Marx congratulated Lincoln as the “earnest of the epoch” leading America toward the “RECONSTRUCTION of a social world.” “Crazy Abe” succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of the author of the Communist Manifesto. As did the Bolsheviks, Lincoln seized power illegally, imposed martial law, and conducted a brutal “Reign of Terror,” ultimately killing 1 million Americans and “fundamentally transforming the United States of America, by way of illicit, unconstitutional and improperly ratified “RECONSTRUCTION Amendments,” into the Union of American Socialist Republics, UASR, nay, the Union of the American Socialist States, UASS! Lincoln criminally changed America with a gun to its head.
You are the uneducated. Learn some history and get your facts straight.
Robert Byrd, KKK chapter leader
“He was a friend, a mentor, a guide.” __Joe Biden
https://twitter.com/TrumpWarRoom/status/1278732729174106114
This thing goes way beyond Trump and way beyond New York.
King,
The Libertarians on this blog and you appear to be one of them, recognize that everything that is going on is more easily understood if we rise above the trees to get a more broader view of the forest and beyond. Our host, bless his heart, attempts to expand our view in this way by the way he crafts his posts. Ultimately though, this blog reflects a cage-match the moment the trolls arrive. The conservatives on this blog, and there are many, will make compelling, big picture, principled arguments, but they time after time get dragged down to the forest floor by the trolls committed to prolonging this disastrous phase we currently find ourselves.
JT’s blog is still my favorite, but I’ve pulled back from the cage-matches. I still read original comments by the conservatives here. I learn from them and I will reply to them, but once they get dragged down into a thread by a troll, I’m out. I’m always on the lookout for explanations as to why our country has devolved so quickly. And today, Dr. Robert Malone posted an excellent article regarding a book that came out in 1997 called The Fourth Turning. I’ve put a link to it here. It appears to be a great resource for understanding everything taking place.
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/a-fourth-turning?publication_id=583200&post_id=112834058&isFreemail=true
If Bragg had anything it would have been given immediately. The dates that this supposedly happened was in 2016 and 2017, which I believe is past the 5 year limits for felonies in NY. The thing is 2017 Trump was in the White House in DC and not running his businesses. This sounds like a which hunt to try to keep him busy during the 2024 campaign.
JG, sounds like a witch hunt?
Some posters on this blog said just wait for the details of the indictment to come out. Just wait, there will be more bombshells to come. Not even an additional sound of a lady finger is to be heard. I can recall that they said the same thing about RussiaGate. Just you wait they said, the proof will soon rise to the surface. We should keep these things in mind when we read their posts.
People who believe that the ends always justify the means are people who will do anything to reach their required outcome. It’s been proven that they will create a crime even if one does not exist. They will use torture if necessary. They will place a person in solitary confinement (a form of torture) for months on end until a confession is produced. People in America used to think that these things only occurred in far off places. Hopefully they will soon come to the understanding that such actions are now being utilized right here at home. It should be understood that there are many in governmental positions who long for the day when their control will be complete. Will you help them or will you oppose them. The time for sitting on your hands is over.
It is time for Republican prosecutors to follow suit.
Hurting Democrats is their only priority, regardless of what the the Constitution, statute, or ethics say, regardless of how creative their legal arguments have to be.