Below is my column in the New York Post on the start of the Trump trial today in New York. I have long been critical of the case as a clear example of the weaponization of the criminal justice system. No one seriously believes that Alvin Bragg would have spent this time and money to prosecute what is ordinarily a state misdemeanor if the defendant was anyone other than Trump. One does not have to like Trump to repel from the spectacle about to unfold in Manhattan.
Here is the column:
The famous Roman philosopher and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero once said, “The more laws, the less justice.”
This week, New York judges and lawyers appear eager to prove that the same is true for cases against Donald Trump.
After an absurd $450 million decision courtesy of Attorney General Letitia James, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will bring his equally controversial criminal prosecution over hush money paid to former porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
Lawyers have been scouring the civil and criminal codes for any basis to sue or prosecute Trump before the upcoming 2024 election. This week will highlight the damage done to New York’s legal system because of this unhinged crusade. They’ve charged him with everything short of ripping a label off a mattress.
Just a few weeks ago, another judge imposed a roughly half billion dollar penalty in a case without a single victim who lost a single cent on loans with Trump. (Indeed, bank officials testified they wanted more business with the Trump organization).
Now Bragg is bringing a case that has taken years to develop and millions of dollars in litigation costs for all parties. That is all over a crime from before the 2016 election that is a misdemeanor under state law that had already expired under the statute of limitations.
Like his predecessor, Bragg previously scoffed at the case. However, two prosecutors, Carey R. Dunne and Mark F. Pomerantz, then resigned and started a public pressure campaign to get New Yorkers to demand prosecution.
Pomerantz shocked many of us by publishing a book on the case against Trump — who was still under investigation and not charged, let alone convicted, of any crime. He did so despite objections from his former colleague that such a book was grossly improper.
Nevertheless, it worked. Bragg brought a Rube Goldberg case that is so convoluted and counterintuitive that even liberal legal analysts criticized it.
Trump paid Daniels to avoid any publicity over their brief alleged affair. As a celebrity, there was ample reason to want to keep the affair quiet, and that does not even include the fact that he is a married man.
It also occurred before the 2016 election and there was clearly a benefit to quash the scandal as a candidate. That political motivation is at the heart of this long-delayed case.
It is a repeat of the case involving former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards. In 2012, the Justice Department used the same theory to charge the former Democratic presidential candidate after a disclosure that he not only had an affair with filmmaker Rielle Hunter but also hid the fact that he had a child by her. Edwards denied the affair, and money from donors was passed to Hunter to keep the matter quiet.
The Justice Department spent a huge amount on the case to show that the third-party payments were a circumvention of campaign finance laws. However, Edwards was ultimately found not guilty on one count while the jury deadlocked on the other five.
With Trump, the Justice Department declined a repeat of the Edwards debacle and did not bring any federal charge.
But Bragg then used the alleged federal crime to bootstrap a defunct misdemeanor charge into a felony in the current case. He is arguing that Trump intentionally lied when his former lawyer Michael Cohen listed the payments as retainer costs rather than a payment — to avoid reporting it as a campaign contribution to himself.
Thus, if he had simply had Cohen report the payment as “hush money,” there would be no crime.
Once again, the contrast to other controversies is telling. Before the 2016 election, Hillary Clinton’s campaign denied that it had funded the infamous Steele dossier behind the debunked Russian collusion claims.
The funding was hidden as legal expenses by then-Clinton campaign general counsel Marc Elias. (The FEC later sanctioned the campaign over its hiding of the funding.). When a reporter tried to report the story, he said Elias “pushed back vigorously, saying ‘You (or your sources) are wrong.’” Times reporter Maggie Haberman declared, “Folks involved in funding this lied about it, and with sanctimony, for a year.”
Likewise, John Podesta, Clinton’s campaign chairman, was called before congressional investigators and denied categorically any contractual agreement with Fusion GPS. Sitting beside him was Elias, who reportedly said nothing to correct the misleading information given to Congress.
Yet, there were no charges stemming from the hiding of the funding, though it was all part of the campaign budget.
Making this assorted business even more repellent will be the appearance of Cohen himself on the stand. Cohen recently was denounced by a judge as a serial perjurer who is continuing to game the system.
Cohen has a long record as a legal thug who has repeatedly lied when it served his interests. He has a knack for selling his curious skill set to powerful figures like Trump and now Bragg.
For those of us who have been critics of Cohen from when he was still working for Trump, it is mystifying that anyone would call him to the stand to attest to anything short of the time of day . . . and even then most of us would check our watches.
Fortunately witnesses are no longer required to put their hand on the bible in swearing to testify truthfully in court. Otherwise, the court would need the New York Fire Department standing by in case the book burst into flames.
So this is the case: A serial perjurer used to convert a dead state misdemeanor into a felony based on an alleged federal election crime that was rejected by the Justice Department.
They could well succeed in a city where nine out of ten potential jurors despise Trump. Trying Trump in Manhattan is about as difficult as the New York Yankees going to bat using beach balls rather than baseballs. It is hard to miss.
However, this is a Pyrrhic victory for the New York legal system. Whatever the outcome, it may prove a greater indictment of the New York court system than the defendant.
Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
Why wasn’t Podesta indicted for perjury?
Because we are now in America 2.0.
Go prove that he knew about the payment. We now know that Elias knew about it, but we have no proof that Podesta did.
Turley’s purchased punditry is so extensive and extreme that I wonder about his responsibility to the profession. Repeatedly Turley tries to make the case that he knows what’s in the mind of Alvin Bragg–e.g, that he wouldn’t have prosecuted anyone else who falsified election finance reports (ignoring the fact that Michael Cohen was prosecuted and convicted of the same thing). Turley argues that the misdemeanor charge was “defunct”. Well, tell that to Michael Cohen, who actually did time. As to Cohen, Turley calls him a “serial perjurer” and “legal thug”, descriptors which are especailly rich considering that Trump is a pathological liar and has gotten away with bullying people all of his life. Until now. Cohen was a “legal thug” because that’s what Trump wanted him to be. Trump IS a thug–he can’t stop lying, especially about losing in 2020. Roy Cohn was Trump previous “legal thug”–a previous Trump alter-ego.
Turley also claims that prosecutors are “scouring” the NY Code looking for something, anything, to charge Trump with. How would he know what they’re doing? Turley attacks the Judgment obtained by Letitia James as “absurd”, and then, once again, repeates Karen S’s lame argument that “no one lost any money”. Turley KNOWS that actual default and loss to the lender are not required to prosecute someone for falsifying loan applications and financial statements. There is NO license to lie to lenders in order to borrow more money and on more favorable terms. There’s no “caveat emptor” defense to falsification of financial statements and loan applications. An attorney who holds himself out as a law professor and argues these things to lay people is crossing the professional reponsibilty line, IMHO. Turley is helping to feed the MAGA lie machine that Trump didn’t do anything wrong, when he knoes better, all to feed into the headline of today’s little piece of trash–the real bad guy here is the NY Legal System.
Turley also tries to make the case that the hush money was paid to protect his celebrity status and Melania. Turley–you should read up on narcissism–Trump is a malignant narcissist , and as such, doesn’t love anyone other than himself. He is purely transactional–everything is done for the moment and to get what he wants. There are no values other than self-preservation and “winning” at any cost. The hush money was to keep the “unborn baby saving” Evangelicals from finding out what kind of person he really is–someone who cons a porn actress to come to his hotel room on the premise that he is interested in financing a motion picture, and then starts humping her. Melania is an ornament–a pretty thing–there to make him look strong and virile. In truth, it makes him look older and more pathetic–she is only a few years younger than Don, Jr.. She is a purchased piece, and everyone knows it, including her.
Take a careful look at how the media and anti-Trump people are trying to attack the first lady, Melania is a beautiful intelligent person and an excellent mother.
Shirley: you don’t know Melania Knaves, but Dr. Mary Trump DOES. You might want to read her writings on Melania, in which she says essentially what I wrote—Melania is an ornament. She’s there to look pretty. Did you know that she posed nude and in lesbian- erotic photos before she married Trump? Look it up on line. Again, something uniquely bad about Trump—a “first lady “ who has posed nude.
She did not attend college, but chose instead to go to Milan to work as a model and met Trump at some cheesy party for wealthy men in which there were plenty of models available. Trump media makes all sorts of claims about her intelligence, etc, but I for one find it difficult to respect a woman who posed nude and for lesbian erotic pictures, who stays married to a man who obviously doesn’t respect her, who brags about assaulting women and sexually assaulted E Jean Carroll and who pays off women he cheated with. Is taking a dump on a gold toilet worth your dignity? What kind of role model is Trump for Barron? Is it OK to steal documents, lie constantly, falsify documents, start an insurrection, insult judges, prosecutor and witnesses and all the other uniquely bad things Trump has done? Don’t you think kids at his school have seen the naked pictures of Melania?
First Lady Melania was one of our BEST ever FLOTUS.
Strength with kindness, beauty with elegance.
Just magnificent.
Cannot wait to have her BACK in the White House.
Kick out the white trash, Jersey accent, lowclass Dr. Jill. A disgrace thru and thru.
Barron is growing into a very nice, well adjusted, STRONG, talented, smart young man.
No one can say that about Hunter Biden who is a total drug addicted POS scumbag loser by anyone’s definition.
Anonymous: you know NOTHING about Barron. Has he ever even opened his mouth in public? Has he ever smiled? Has he ever done anything in public other than keep his head down or stare blankly into space? Astute observers see signs that he could be on the autism spectrum–Asperger’s Syndrome, possibly, based on his obvious lack of engagement with his environment. The Trumps keep him under wraps as much as possible–you only see him coming or going or posing in group photos. But, the bottom line is that you don’t have any factual basis to claim that he is any of the things you listed–just more alt-right BS. Plus, if he is autistic, Trump;’s arrogance and narcissim would preven him from ever admitting that he spawned an imperfect child–a lost opportunity to bring awareness to autism.
However, we DO know that his mother does not have a college education, that she posed nude and for lesbian-erotic photos, and that she was the kind of woman who went to parties where there were rich men, one of whom was Trump. Trump’s White House lied about her–claiming she attended college in Slovenia and was an engineer–that is, until someone in the news media you’ve been conditioned to hate pointed out that there are no schools of engineering in Slovenia. We have all seen what his father is–a mysogynistic, narcissistic, chronic, habitual liar, racist, xenophobe, deadbeat who is under 80 some odd criminal indictments.
As to Hunter Biden, when he was just shy of 3, he was in the car when his mother and baby sister died a violent death right in front of him. He and Beau were seriously injured, too. He developed an addiction problem, which he attributes to that trauma, and has overcome it. For you to judge someone as a “loser” who went through a terrible tragedy like that and has overcome addiction makes you more of a loser than it does him.
Hunter developed an addiction problem because his family is one screwed up mess of dysfunction. That’s why Hunter was banging his dead brother’s widow, and disowning a daughter he fathered with a stripper, in addition to however many prostitutes he could pay to service him as he filmed nearly every encounter. All while smoking crack which his daddy Joe used his 1990s crime bill to lock up a generation of black kids for doing less than what his own crackhead degenerate son was doing. The whole family is a screwed up mess BECAUSE Joe Biden is a nasty POS corrupt politician who used his own son to go around the world hovering up cash, shaking down dictators, and Chinese communists for millions in bribes — ALL to enrich The Biden Family for which there can never be too much money…ALL for them and them and them. To hell with the county he sold out. That is who Joe Biden is. A scumbag who never had a real job. Like father, like son.
Barron Trump is turning out more well-adjusted and far better than any of the totally f’d up Biden children or grandchildren. What a sick mess that Biden family is. And it’s no mystery as to why they are all so screwed up. Just look and Joe and his wife. What was it that Hunter called his own step-mother? Oh right: a c*nt.
Anonymous: you are a perfect example of the kind of Trump disciple who shouldn’t even be allowed to vote because you are SO gullible and immune to facts. As a matter of fact, DOC TOR Jill Biden adopted Hunter and Beau, both of whom asked their father to please marry Jill. According to Wikipedia: “Beau Biden was an American politician, lawyer, and officer in the Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps from Wilmington, Delaware. He was the oldest child of President Joe Biden (who was vice president at the time of Beau’s death) and Neilia Hunter Biden, served as the 44th attorney general of Delaware from 2007 to 2015, and was a major in the Delaware Army National Guard in the Iraq War. He died of glioblastoma at the age of 46 …” So, genius, you think Beau Biden was “screwed up”? How does Beau’s record compare with Don, Jr. or Eric? What have they accomplished? Did any of them actually serve their country like Beau did? Beau’s brain tumor is linked to exposure to burn pits while on active duty. Dr. Jill Biden has an earned Ed.D–Doctor of Education. There isn’t any dirt on her, as you well know. And, unlike Melania, she never posed nude or went to parties to entertain wealthy men.
Beau is dead. He was groomed to be the Golden Boy next in line for the Biden political dynasty.
Not to worry though, bc old Joe doesn’t miss a day without exploiting Dead Son Beau. Or dead wife and daughter, for that matter. It’s the Democrat motto: Never let a good crisis go to waste.
“Hey all you gold star families, did I tell you about my Dead Son Beau?” says Joe, EVERY SINGLE TIME.
So instead Joe has to suck it up and tell the world: “I’m proud of my son. He’s the smartest guy I know.”
That’s because scumbag Hunter is the bagman for the Biden family crime syndicate.
Hunter rakes in the big bucks for the big guy. That’s why Joe is proud of his son.
Nude modeling is something the left admires, no? Nude lesbian modeling is especially hot within the LGBT crowd. That alone should put Melania way up on the left’s admiration list.
Jill said she didn’t want to feel less important than her husband when mail coming to their house addressed to Senator and Mrs. Biden, made her feel unimportant.
So she got herself a cheap mail-order degree just to be called DOCTOR.
Not for any other reason. She simply wanted a title to puff herself up, so she could demand respect (not earn it, demand it) insisting on being addressed only as DOCTOR Jill Biden.
Ladies and gentlemen The president and DOCTOR Jill biden.
That’s all Jill wanted. How pretentious.
You Trumpsters are SO gullible. Here’s what the History Channel says about Jill Biden’s education:
“Jill Biden earned two master’s degrees, in education (with a specialty in reading) from West Chester University in 1981 and in English from Villanova University in 1987, while teaching adolescents at a psychiatric hospital. She later taught for years at Claymont High School, Brandywine High School and Delaware Technical and Community College.
Biden returned to the University of Delaware to pursue her doctorate in education, which she earned in 2007. ”
Now, please tell me whether the University of Delaware, West Chester University or Villanova is a “mail order” school? If you are pursuing a career as a professional educator, you get your doctorate degree, which Jill Biden did. She got 2 masters degrees first. University of Delaware enjoys a ranking of #76 and Villanova is #67, so they are both in the top 100. Melania has a high school diploma.
All people like you do all day long is listen to the hate and lies pumped out by pro-Trump media that unfairly attacks the Biden family every single day, including Dr. Jill Biden.
No Gigi, dear, YOU are the gullible one. Keep up the good work. 😉
btw, these are some fave critiques of Dr. Jill’s “work”:
“I don’t recall Lynne Cheney being called “Dr. Cheney” very often. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature. Her dissertation was titled “Matthew Arnold’s Possible Perfection: A Study of the Kantian Strain in Arnold’s Poetry.” That sounds at least as worthy of respect as Jill Biden’s dissertation: “Student Retention at the Community College: Meeting Students’ Needs.””
“Biden’s style is atrocious, her research is comical, her reasoning is muddled, and as one finishes the final vacuous line of this student-newspaper-style exercise (“A student retention plan requires diligence and effort — but most of all, leadership”), it is impossible not to be reminded that the University of Delaware, which granted Mrs. Biden an Ed.D. in 2007, is deeply connected to her husband. A more exacting, or even minimally self-respecting, university would have directed Mrs. Biden’s paper to the nearest trash receptacle. Jill Biden looks like yet another member of the Biden family who successfully leveraged the family name to obtain things of value that otherwise would have lain far beyond the reach of someone of such meager talents.”
Anonymous: explain to me how someone with a high school diploma from a foreign country, who posed nude, who posed for lesbian-erotic photographs and who entertained wealthy men at NYC parties fits in with the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Dolley Madison, Abigail Adams, Mamie Eisehower or Laura Bush? Do you see some disconnect here? Then, again, their husbands weren’t braggadocious narcissists who cheated people in business, who cheated to “win” the presidency, who took bankruptcy 6 times, who cannot stop lying, who disrespects judges, witnesses and prosecutors and refuses to obey gag orders, who stole classified documents, who was found liable for sexually assaulting a woman, who brags about sexually assaulting women, who got caught lying to borrow money on better terms and is under over 80 criminal indictments, including some for trying to cover up a liaison with a porn actress. Do you see some disconnect between Trump and men like Lincoln, Adams, FDR, LBJ, JFK and Eisenhower? The Trumps are simply money-grubbing trashy losers. They are not role model material and are a disgrace to America.
Oh I see, and Biden Family is “role model material”? LOL. Talk about a “disgrace to America.”
Gigi says, “Turley’s purchased punditry is so extensive and extreme that I wonder about his responsibility to the profession.”
We don’t know if you are being paid for your punditry, gigi, but we wonder about your responsibility to sanity and humanity in general. Your hatred is so extreme and repetitive, what? did Trump turn you down for an autograph or something?
I don’t bother reading anything from Gigi, Dennis or Fishguts.
Whenever I see someone commenting about them, my thoughts go immediately to Donna Summer’s “She works hard for the money”
I read them simply because it blows my mind how brainwashed and stupid these people are.
wiseoldlawyer
Must assuradly true. I use to pick out a lie or two. But they just keep lying. They are here only to disrupt.
One doesn’t actually “read” Gigi, Dennis or Fishguts. One re-reads them. It’s the same tedious boilerplate, served up cold and stale every day.
Me neither. I scroll by them, and all the Anonymous’s here.
Turley encourages disrespect for the law and for prosecutors and judges because he is PAID to do so by a biased media outlet pushing a political agenda for a disgraced former president (who , by the way, promises huge tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and corporations). They are financing the attacks against Joe Biden and Democrats, which Turley has chosen to be a part of.
Holding himself out as a law professor while accusing the Manhattan DA of filing a baseless criminal action based on the same facts for which Michael Cohen was convicted and did time, crosses the line. That’s just one example of Turley encouraging disrespect for the law, judges and prosecutors. There is a professional responsibility line that Turley has exceeded, especially since his punditry is not done in the context of representing a client.
Nice try, but nowhere in that mess did I see anything refuting Turley’s claims, that this case was cobbled together in unprecedented fashion. I’d be curious if you could actually cite facts refuting Turley rather than parsing whether NY is “scouring” ettc.
If the Democrats stopped lying, they would have noting to say. Everything is a projection.
Democrat lawfare: Welcome to the Soviet Union.
We are now The U.S.S.A.
Democrats DESTROY everything they touch.
Just ask Barry from Honolulu. He knows what he did. And continues to do.
Anyone who believes Michelle O. has a chance of being elected is a fool.
People are on to her and her husband. No thanks. The country has woken up.
Michelle O. ain’t tossing her hat in the race because they did some polling and found out: The people said “nope.”
Soviet-style Star Chambers come to mind.
New York is now officially a direct and mortal enemy of the American thesis of Freedom and Self-Reliance, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, actual Americans, and America.
Truth Social shares are a bargain today!!!
Time to load up guys!!!!!
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
(pause for deep breath)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
You do realize Trump had nothing to do with setting share price?
Seem to have struck a nerve here!!!
How much have you lost already????
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
So you don’t have a clue. As always. Too ignorant to understand the facts
I understand the facts all too well.
The reason the stock tanked today was because the company filed an S-1 Resale Registration Statement with the SEC.
What does this mean you may ask????
Well, this is the required preliminary step to undo the 6 month lockup on Trump selling his shares on the open market. The SEC will review the filing, then decide whether to allow Trump to start selling now. Remember Trump holds 60% of the stock, but as things stand right now he is unable to sell for 6 months. Once he starts selling this thing goes to zero, and anyone with half a brain knows this.
Whose idea do you think it was to make this filing?
Do you think it may be Trump’s idea?
He is desperate for cash right now and will liquidate his position as soon as he can.
Trump, with his 60% stake, is very much in control of the stock price.
When he starts selling you will lose everything.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA
With or without the filing the stock will seek its true value.
You know who tracks stock prices daily?
Retards
You are absolutely right AGAIN!!!!!
Stocks always find their true value. In this case the true value is zero.
Also, speaking as someone who has been investing for close to 50 years, I can tell you that you need to watch your portfolio very closely. If you are not making daily checks you will lose money very quickly.
The market has recovered very nicely after the big COVID dip. I have made close to a million dollars just in the last 3 years alone by investing in quality tech stocks ( Amazon, Google, Microsoft etc).
Successful people have no need to boast as others boast for them. Pride to me is a sign of immaturity and signs of someone looking to be accepted because they have low self esteem. I am glad you think you are successful. Now concentrate of true success.
This case must have been thrown out.
This judge must be prosecuted.
@StephenM
‘Democracy is on trial in NYC. This is a show trial to take out the opposition leader so that Biden and his party can impose a new despotism — one enforced through censorship, surveillance, financial extortion, voter importation, and the ruthless persecution of political dissent.’
The threat of indictment or criminal prosecution of a President before or between terms would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.
The President is immune from prosecution before or between terms.
__________________________________________________________________________
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE – OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS
“A Sitting President’s Amenability to Indictment and Criminal Prosecution”
The indictment or criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unconstitutionally undermine the capacity of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned functions.
October 16, 2000
In 1973, the Department of Justice concluded that the indictment and criminal prosecution of a sitting President would unduly interfere with the ability of the executive branch to perform its constitutionally assigned duties, and would thus violate the constitutional separation of powers. No court has addressed this question directly, but the judicial precedents that bear on the continuing validity of our constitutional analysis are consistent with both the analytic approach taken and the conclusions reached. Our view remains that a sitting President is constitutionally immune from indictment and criminal prosecution.
RANDOLPH D. MOSS
Assistant Attorney General
Office o f Legal Counsel
@GeraldoRivera
“Like New York AttorneyGeneral Letitia James, NY County District Attorney Alvin Bragg is an elected Democrat who openly campaigned that he was going to get Donald Trump.
This lawfare is undignified, indeed un-American. If I represented Trump I would file a Bar complaint. For political activists to stoop to this level, to make garbage precedent about the 1st criminal prosecution of a former President is shameful. Targeted persecution should not be part of our criminal justice system. This isn’t justice, this is politics.”
_____________________________________
WHY IS THIS CASE BEING ALLOWED TO GO FORWARD?
Biden donor and biased judge, Merchan, threatened Trump with arrest if he did not show up for every day of the trial which is expected to last months. It is intended to keep Trump off the campaign trail. Meanwhile Joe Biden is free to campaign (if that’s what Biden does on his long weekends at the beach) while everyone else, including the corrupt fake news does the work to ‘dirty-up-Trump’ on his behalf. What a disgraceful POS Joe Biden is.
Biden must be forced to stand on a debate stage and debate Trump LIVE in front of the American people.
There is no way Biden should be allowed to escape a live, televised debate with candidate Trump.
Biden should be required to take a drug test before the debate as well.
The American people deserve to know what drugs they are pumping Biden up with.
You want to see what a corrupt 3rd world DICTATOR looks like?
Take a look at Joe Biden’s corrupt, tyrannical and lawless presidency.
This whole get Trump thing has turned into a Bible story. Does anyone truly think he can get a fair trial in NYC? I am still trying to fathom how much worse this can get for Trump as the prosecutors chase their orange whale. None of this makes sense to me. I am no Trump fan, but this is just bizarre.
It really does seem to be two laws. One for us and one for Trump.
I totally agree. I am no Trump fan either, nor is Prof. Turley. But like the good professore, I am a supporter of the rule of law and a lover of America. This is unAmerican and certainly a gross disregard of fairness and equity.
When Democrats gather in Chicago this August 19 for their DNC Convention, and the roll is called, they wont know whether to answer “present” or “not guilty”. Democrats will pay dearly with their abuse of lawfare and rigging the elections of 2020 and now 2024. Americans will treat them just like they did in 1968. Democrats very supporters are uncontrollable and have an insatiable appetite for anarchy.
Either way the Leftist Democrat Nazis gathered outside the convention hall shouting Anti-Semitic slogans and demanding death to Israel (and Americans) will dwarf the August 1968 DNC Chicago convention. Given ANTIFA BLM Pro-HAMAS activists well honed skills at inciting violence, Biden has more to fear in his supporters tanking the elections just like in 1968. It was a gift to newly elected President Richard Nixon
To wit:
Polls taken immediately after the convention showed that the majority of Americans — 56 percent — sympathized with the police, not with the bloodied demonstrators or the press. Indeed, what one could see of the action on television did not resemble dignified protest but the anarchic breakdown of a great city (if only because, once the police began to rampage, dignity was out of the question). Overnight the press abandoned its protest. The collapse was abrupt and craven. As bumper stickers began to appear saying “We support Mayor Daley and his Chicago police,” the national media awoke to the disturbing possibility that they had grown estranged from a sizable segment of the public.
Media leaders moved quickly to correct what they now came to see as their “bias.” They now felt they had been too sympathetic to militant minorities (a judgment the minorities might well have contested). Henceforth they would focus on the enigmatic — and in Richard Nixon’s famous phrase — silent majority.
– Barbara Ehrenreich in Fear of Falling
Pure racism.
Alvin Bragg, Leticia James, Fani Willis, the Obama/Rice/Jarrett/Austin/Jean-Pierre/Biden White House et al. against Donald Trump.
Related to this absurd and jurisprudentially heinous and hideous maelstrom, please allow me to recommend the eminently parallel fictional tale of “Victor Frankenstein.”
https://youtu.be/7pxZxY_Siyc
“Victor Frankenstein” https://youtu.be/7pxZxY_Siyc
George,
How about the Colombian Godmother, Griselda Blanco.
If you owed Griselda money, she would kill you. If Griselda owed you money, she would kill you. If you were her husband, she would kill you.
How a case like this can be prosecuted using tax money is a testament to the ignorance of the electorate in New York. Shameful and should be illegal to do this.
Wonderful & memorable summary: “A serial perjurer used to convert a dead state misdemeanor into a felony based on an alleged federal election crime that was rejected by the Justice Department.”
Professor…..Great post! Thank you for explaining, so expertly, as only you can do, the blatant misuse, and abuse of the NY legal system.
This sham of a trial, along with a myriad of other abusive atrocities from the Left, has inspired me to print-up bumper stickers that read: “Thinking about voting for Democrats in November? DON’T!”
While Trump is limited about making statements about Alvin Bragg in NYC, he makes political statements about Israel IDF vs. Joe Biden’s “Don’t Do It.”
IDF has a list of targets: Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Iran President Ebrahim Raisi, Nuclear Power Plant & Nuclear Weapons enrichment facilities.
Professor Turley: This is a brilliant column. The best part is the imagery of which the excerpt below is one example. Loved it!
“For those of us who have been critics of Cohen from when he was still working for Trump, it is mystifying that anyone would call him to the stand to attest to anything short of the time of day . . . and even then most of us would check our watches.
Fortunately witnesses are no longer required to put their hand on the bible in swearing to testify truthfully in court. Otherwise, the court would need the New York Fire Department standing by in case the book burst into flames.”
Old trick Turley, you can’t defend the indefensible, so attacking the legal system is all you got?
Fishy has no intention of enforcing any rational law.
Fishy, “The Failure,” merely wants to personally damage a superior individual, whose success Fishy ferociously covets by perverting statutes.
Fishy learned Karl Marx’s lessons on covetousness, jealousy, and unwarranted and unreasonable retribution well.
Old trick FishWings, you can’t defend the indefensible, so attacking Mr. Turley is all you got?
Jonathan: Finally, the first criminal trial of a of a former president. Probably the only criminal trial DJT will face before the election. The case is actually pretty simple. It involves a lot of documents–a series of checks used by DJT to repay Michael Cohen to coverup the $130,00 hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Fraudulent business records are just part of the charges. In 2018 Cohen pleaded guilty for his crimes including campaign finance violations. In his plea Cohen said his hush money payments were made “for the benefit of, and at the direction of, and in coordination with Donald Trump”. That relationship will be relatively easy to prove–that DJT was involved in a conspiracy to violate both state and federal election laws. That’s the basis for the felony charge.
But you bizarrely claim this case involves the “weaponization of the criminal justice system”. That’s the same argument DJT has made–in his 10 pretrial motions to get the case dismissed–claims the judge and prosecutors are “biased” against him, “election interference” and other spurious claims. DJT even claimed the judge’s adult daughter is a Democratic “operative” that somehow is influencing Judge Merchan’s decisions. All those claims were rejected by Judge Merchan and the NY Appellate Division. So “weaponization” is a pretty feeble defense in this case.
You even try to argue DJT can’t get a fair trial in Manhattan because “nine out of ten potential jurors despise Trump”. That’s the same argument Elon Musk made last year in San Francisco when he was charged with fraud by investors when he took Tesla private. Musk claimed he could not get a fair trial in a city that “despises me”. And what happened? The jury found Musk NOT liable! Jurors even in cities that don’t like either Musk or DJT can be fair and impartial!
If we look at the jury 42 questionnaire in DJT’s trial it is designed to weed out any potential juror who might have a bias against DJT. Combined with preemptory and unlimited challenges for cause I think there will be a jury picked that can be fair and impartial. So much for that false claim.
This case is not, as you also claim, an “indictment of the New York court system”. It’s the same argument every criminal defendant makes. It was the argument you made over the trials of the Jan. 6 defendants. It’s bizarre you would attack the very system you pledged to defend and protect when you were first sworn in as an attorney. I doubt you would be making similar claims about any other criminal defendant. But this case involves DJT–someone you think deserves special treatment by the criminal justice system. Nope. As a private citizen DJT is entitled to all the rights of any other criminal defendant. He will be judged by a jury of his peers. That’s what our criminal justice system was designed to ensure. If DJT is found innocent will you still make the same tired arguments?
New Yorkers should be enraged at all the resources being diverted to this Trump persecution.
The judge is clearly biased and should have recused.
Instead of recusing himself, the judge gags a criminal defendant, and then expands his gag order to include his daughter because they can’t have Trump talking about all the evidence of government corruption OR the judge’s DNC activist daughter profiting off the case: that would be “dangerous.”
The whole process is stacked against Trump. There is nothing fair about it.
It is election interference. Hang a conviction around Trump’s neck before the election. That’s all this is about.
It’s grotesque abuse of the system by corrupt prosecutors who are coordinating all their bogus lawfare with the Biden White House and DOJ.
Dennis McIntyre, I agree. Jonathan Turley has gone way of in right field over this.
“REMINDER: Biden’s DOJ placed one of their Senior Officials [Matthew Colangelo] in DA Bragg’s office to help lead the persecution of Donald Trump.
This COMMUNIST SHOW TRIAL is being 100% orchestrated by the Biden admin!” @alexbruesewitz
“Matthew Colangelo was once the Acting Associate Attorney General in the Biden Administration. The Associate AG is the #3 spot at USDOJ.
One simply does not leave an elevated spot like that at Main Justice to take up a job as just one lawyer on a prosecution team for the Manhattan DA’s Office.
That would be reverse career upward mobility, putting your career in reverse gear and punching the gas.
What is it that explains this mystery? It’s not so hard, really. Colangelo has clearly been asked to deliver a mortal blow to Trump’s reelection campaign and keep him from sending Biden packing out of the White House.
Either Biden and his people dispatched Colangelo to Manhattan or Colangelo independently decided it would be great for his career — high hero potential — if his jump to Manhattan allows him to wound President Trump.” @JeffClarkUS
____________________________________________
This is OBVIOUS POLITICAL LAWFARE. OBVIOUS ELECTION INTERFERENCE. OBVIOUS ABUSE of POWER.
What is so hard to understand?
Fraudulent business records are just part of the charges
Paying for NDA signatures is not fraudulent.
Dennis – you say: “Fraudulent business records are just part of the charges.” in what way were the records fraudulent? Fraud is a tort that consists of several separate elements: a false statement of fact; knowingly communicated to another person who is expected to or anticipated to rely upon them; and who does then reasonably rely upon them to his/her financial detriment. The evidence on each element must be “clear and convincing”. Please set forth in a response how the facts here support each of the elements of “fraud”.
Dennis never responds when his everyday lies are challenged
He just repeats the talking points he was given….
Yesterday (Sunday) I watched NBC’s Kristen Welker (Chuck Todd’s replacement on MTP) argue with and interrupt Rep. Mike Turner about his support for Donald Trump and his “crimes.” Likewise, on ABC’s Good Morning show, I watched partisan Geo Stephanopoulos argue with and talk over/interrupt NH Gov Chris Sununu (who had supported Haley) on why he will support Trump and his “crimes.”
The barrage was non-stop for roughly one-third of each WIDELY-watched Sunday morning shows.
At least ONE reporter had the honesty to admit that prospective jurors might lie in answering voir dire questions in order to be selected for the trial of the century, on Trump’s jury.
Don’t forget Stephanopolous repeatedly calling Trump a convicted rapist. Dems will use that word, “rapist” endlessly. Trump is a rapist, a felon, a criminal, a liar. Have we ever heard Stephanopolous talk about Biden’s scandals? Or Biden’s crimes, or his son’s crimes? Or Biden’s brazen lying? Of course not, they defend Biden because these people are not journalists, they are Democrat mouthpieces. That’s why they are called the Fake News. Their ideology: destroy opposition, seize power by any means. Good little Commies: Power for The Party above all else.
They defended Bill Clinton before they defended Biden.