The first ever criminal trial of a former president is set for March 25th in Manhattan, New York. This is the first election interference case involving Donald Trump. His actions in falsifying business records in the cover up of payments to Stormy Daniels helped to set the stage for Trump’s election win over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
When Trump entered the political world he brought his corrupt practices with him. As a player in the world of real estate and in marketing his name Trump routinely lied and engaged in shady business practices as we have learned in the civil fraud case before Judge Engoron. Trump reported false real estate valuations to gain tax and other financial benefits for himself by lying about the square footage of his properties and getting others to go along with his misrepresentations. Trump might have succeeded in getting away with these lies but for his involvement in the world of politics that thrust him into the limelight and exposed him over time.
After becoming president he was subjected to far greater scrutiny. His lies have come out over the course of time and they are exposed now through both civil and criminal lawsuits that are coming to a head prior to the election of 2024. The wheels of justice turn exceedingly slowly, but they have brought all of us in this country to a time of reckoning. Trump is trying every trick in the book to delay his trials with the hope of getting re-elected before the shit hits the fan. Meanwhile, those Americans who are still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, may finally have a come to Jesus moment if and when Trump is criminally convicted by a jury of average citizens. A criminal conviction would provide a litmus test for which Americans are hopeless members of the MAGA cult and which Americans are still able to think for themselves.
The election interference case being brought in Manhattan by States Attorney, Alvin Bragg, was the first case to be indicted in what now has become a total of 4 criminal cases and 91 felony counts.
STATUS OF TRUMP’S 4 CRIMINAL CASES
1) Manhattan “Stormy Daniels” Election Interference Case
Trump cheated on his wife, Melania, with Stormy Daniels, but far more important, he silenced the porn star who was going to reveal that affair right before the 2016 election, by paying her off so she wouldn’t expose what he had done. Trump paid hush money to Daniels so he could win the 2016 election. The case properly charges felony violations.
[Judge Merchan] pointed to plenty of other cases, 437 to be exact, in which falsification of business records was charged as a felony because the defendant intended to conceal other crimes.
The real importance of this case is that it is the first in a series of criminal cases that expose Trump as a man who would interfere with an election for the sake of getting and staying in power as president.
After the 2020 election, Trump told Americans The Big Lie that he won when he lost fair and square to Joe Biden. That, along with the coup plot to stay in power, is the combo that could land him in prison if the DOJ case brought by Jack Smith can be tried to completion before the 2024 election. Independent voters who vote in the general election make up about 40% of the electorate these days. Democrats and Republicans both make up about 27% of the electorate these days. In reliable polls, if Trump is criminally convicted before the election, Biden moves anywhere from 5 points down to Trump to 9 points up against Trump across the country. Trump understands that peril. It is why he is trying to delay all of his criminal cases by using the slow as molasses judicial system to help him with that delay as his legal team files endless appeals. When it comes to this Manhattan case, however, the appeals are over. It really looks like this case will begin before Judge Merchan on March 25th.
2) Georgia RICO case
This sprawling RICO case indicted by Fani Willis seemed at first to imperiled by actions of the State’s Attorney herself. She and one of the lead prosecutors on the trial team, Nathan Wade, had an affair. The affair is not the problem. Lying could be the problem. Appearance of impropriety could be a problem. Willis submitted an affidavit to the court. If the court finds that she lied in that affidavit, she could be forced to remove herself as well as Nathan Wade, from the trial team. But the testimony so far bolstered the truth of the affidavit signed by Willis.
Possible conflict of interest could also be a problem. Georgia law, however, seems to require that Trump’s lawyers show that Fani Willis had a financial motive in indicting Trump and his co-defendants to remove her from the case.
Under Georgia law, “[t]here are two generally recognized grounds for disqualification of a prosecuting attorney. The first such ground is based on a conflict of interest, and the second ground has been described as ‘forensic misconduct.’” Williams v. State, 258 Ga. 305, 314, 369 S. E. 2d 232, 238 (1988). There is no allegation of “forensic misconduct” in this prosecution. A conflict of interest may arise when the prosecutor has “acquired a personal interest or stake in the defendant’s conviction.” Id. “[A] conflict of interest requires more than a theoretical or speculative conflict. An actual conflict of interest must be involved.”
The evidence presented in court before Judge McAfee did not establish that Willis had such a motive. It seemed far fetched at best that Willis put Nathan Wade on the case in order to get a financial benefit from vacations or dinners together. February 15 and 16 Willis was on the witness stand, as well as Nathan Wade, Willis’ father and other witnesses. Given the testimony it is unlikely that this judge will buy the idea that Willis had a financial motive for putting Wade on the trial team and that financial enrichment was the motive for going after Trump and those 19 co-defendants who were indicted.
3) Mar-A -Lago documents case
The assigned judge, Aline Cannon, appears to be a Trump sycophant who is willing to risk exposure of confidential informants (potentially imperiling their lives) by forcing the government to reveal secret information in the discovery she wants to allow Trump’s counsel. The government team, led by Jack Smith, may ask for a new judge in this case because of this, and other failures by Judge Cannon, to follow the law. The super conservative 11th circuit appellate court has already chastised Cannon in a prior ruling over the appointment of a special master. A request for a new judge has not been made yet by Jack Smiths’ team but could be coming soon. If they ask for that, their request may well be granted. Trump could lose big here.
4) Trump’s Attempted Coup to Overturn the 2020 Election
Jack Smith’s case before Judge Chutkan with Trump as the sole defendant, is currently stayed pending a determination by the Supreme Court on the issue of total immunity for a former president. The DC District Court 3 judge panel has written a 57 page opinion that is rock solid and addresses and demolishes every issue raised by Trump’s legal team. The Supreme Court gave Jack Smith 5 days to respond. Smith responded in 2 days. The next question was whether Trump’s lawyers would delay delay delay as they have been doing so far in every other legal venue. But, surprisingly, they responded quickly with their brief. At this point the Supreme Court just has to make a decision whether they will have oral argument (grant cert) or accept the determination of the DC Appeals 3 judge panel (deny cert).
Jack Smith has asked the Supreme Court to either 1) hear the oral argument in an expedited fashion so that the trial can proceed as soon as possible, or 2) deny cert adopting the opinion of the DC panel and allowing the case to move forward immediately. In either case, the Supreme Court could remove the stay that is keeping the district court judge (Chutkan) from moving the case forward to trial in time for the American people to understand who they are voting for in 2024. The Supreme Court could even decide to hear oral argument but also remove the stay so that the case could proceed in the trial court.
By the looks of it, the Supreme Court will very likely move extraordinarily fast (for the Supreme Court!) so that history does not condemn them for putting a thumb on the scale to help Trump delay this trial long enough to get re-elected. There is no real doubt that the Supreme Court will adopt the position of the DC panel and rule that presidents are not kings and do not have total immunity.
Trump could lose EVERYTHING here: his chance for re-election to the presidency and his freedom.
TRUMP’S FIRST CRIMINAL TRIAL IS SET FOR MARCH 25.
Former President Donald J. Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree as part of what the Manhattan district attorney’s office says was a scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.
The charges trace back to a $130,000 hush-money payment that Mr. Trump’s fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, in the final days of the 2016 campaign. The payment, which Mr. Cohen said he made at Mr. Trump’s direction, suppressed her story of a sexual liaison she says she had with Mr. Trump.
What is most important in these facts is that Trump was trying to win an election and to do so he lied on certain financial documents as part of his effort to bury a story that could have cost him the election. He interfered with an election for the first time but not the last time. This was just the beginning.
Many commentators think that this case will not be very damaging to Trump. But when this case is taken in light of his other provable activities in which he violated the law with impunity, lied on submissions to banks and the IRS, cheated to stay in power, stole documents that did not belong to him and he might even be selling to foreign adversaries, and now is claiming that as president and even as former president he has total immunity, it is clear that the court system needs to step in and stop Trump.
Courts must finally do what Trump’s Republican allies have failed to do, namely, stop the rise of our American version of Hitler and re-establish that our country is a democracy with a rule of law that applies to everyone. If we are a country of laws, then breaking laws must result in consequences. If presidents are not above the law, then Trump has to be held accountable. The courts are the last clear chance to do that given the spinelessness of the Republican Party.