By Robert Willmann
In what are usually called totalitarian governments or dictatorships, an order is given to the police or the internal security organization — the country’s “Interior Ministry” or “Department of Homeland Security” — to go arrest and detain a person who is thought to be a political opponent or who is speaking out or is organizing for political change, and about whom a “threat assessment” has been made. The order is obeyed and through the application of some degree of force, the person is taken and placed into detention, or worse. It is a one-step process. In the United States, this is not supposed to happen. Organized into three branches, those parts of a governmental structure are to check and balance each other to a certain extent.
Of all the types of legally protected speech in the U.S., the most protected is what is called “core political speech”. The court system, as one of the three branches of a government, stays out of political matters except to address and interpret election laws and be a forum and process to resolve election disputes and challenges through public hearings and trials at which evidence is to be presented and examined.
However, the manipulation of the court system for political purposes became brazenly obvious starting in 2016 and it escalated in the 2020 election, continuing into the recent 2022 midterm elections last November. Now all pretense is being cast aside. Unless lawyers and judges, who operate the court system, put a stop to this, state and federal courts will deteriorate into nothing more than a rubber stamp and cat’s-paw for political operators.
This is a big subject. But two observations can be made as a start.
If this path is to be our future, then the expression ‘keep your guns and clothes near you at night’ will gradually follow. I have never had much use for Trump the personality but I did vote for him twice. All this is high handedness by Garland, Bragg and all the DNC, media and the DC ruling elite. The public is angry enough already and this won’t help.
The court & law enforcement system has been “politicized” far longer than 2016 and Donald Trump. IMO, that is actually a side-show. Democrat-backed PACs are forming to fund campaign marketing in support of Donald Trump in the primaries. Trump himself is using this to raise campaign cash. Recall, that he raised hundreds of millions to “fight the steal” and used none of that to provide any legal defense funding for those caught in the J6 brouhaha.
The courts have colluded with the national security agencies for a good long time to “legalize” warrantless mass surveillance, use of secret FISA courts with no ability to defend against accusations, and non-prosecution of those government agents who have got caught in violations of the law – the best example being James Clapper who lied under oath to Congress.
The courts have also backed civil forfeiture wherein an individual’s property is seized based on an accusation by law enforcement with no due process.
Of course Congress has also enabled many of these incursions into the stripping of essential liberty which is at the heart of our constitutional republic with laws like FISA & the Patriot Act, etc, which should be unconstitutional on the face of it and one doesn’t have to be Yale law school grad to know it.
It should be unmistakable that the covidian hysteria demonstrated beyond any shadow of doubt that the state can override constitutional due process and free speech protections at will and the vast of majority of Americans will cheer!
https://twitter.com/chuckrossdc/status/1643339956444594176?s=21
I’ll let Mr. Willmann comment on the actual indictment. I think this is a huge PR win for Trump. He’s always been about dominating the news cycle with good or bad PR as long as he’s in it. By the time it gets to trial it will likely be 2024 and Trump will milk it for all it’s worth.
Sam
If the judge puts a gag order on Trump forbidding him from talking about the trial it will be a lot harder for Trump to milk it. In that case it will be a boxing match where the Trump detractors can beat up on him and he has to just stand there and take it.
https://twitter.com/techno_fog/status/1643347714971783170?s=21
Since I’m not a legal beagle I’ll let Mr. Willmann comment on the legal aspects of the indictment.
It’s not a federal trial, nor are any of the charges federal charges. States have election laws too.
Sam,
It’s not a statement of facts at all, just a listing of the counts of indictment. A very unsatisfying read. Now we’ll hear nothing but speculation for months. My own speculation is that this is about a lot more than one payment to one porn star.
TTG,
I’m not certain if this is anything more than that, giving money to a hooker to keep her quiet. The trial if it gets to that will be ratings gold as each side spins with every witness statement and jury person’s demeanor.
https://twitter.com/greta/status/1643355720841064450?s=21
I would think that Greta can Susteren knows something about the law. Didn’t she play that on TV??
Sam
It’s the part that should have the whole thing dismissed with prejudice but won’t because this is a manifestation of Barack’s fundamental changing of America.
Sam,
There is a statement of facts. It still leaves a lot to speculation. It’s not at all like the statement of facts for the indictment of the GRU-12. That had some serious detail.
https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-SOF.pdf
TTG,
Lawfare did a deep dive on it. https://www.lawfareblog.com/and-so-it-begins-first-charges-drop-against-former-president-donald-trump
The story which the pundits may be missing is the lesser-included misdemeanor aspect. The DA appears to have the misdemeanors well documented so it is very likely they can get convictions for those, it’s the felony aspect that’s a reach. It is typical of DAs to charge the to the moon on perps who will not plea bargain.
This tweet is funny….
https://twitter.com/upsidetrader/status/1643342411412717568?s=21
Sam,
It is funny, but not factual in Clinton’s case. He didn’t pay hush money. He paid a settlement imposed by open court. I don’t know if just paying hush money is a crime at all. I doubt it.
Paying “hush money” is not a crime. What I think is being looked at is whose money Trump used to pay the hush money and the lies he told covering that path up. In DC it usually isn’t the basics that gets you caught up, it is the lies and crimes committed in covering up the basics that do you in.
Stefan,
This case is very similar to the Edwards case all those years ago. The jury trial went through, but there was no conviction. At that time, Republicans and a lot of Democrats wanted him jailed for his hush money.
This is not similar at all, but the DA certainly wants to conflate it with that case. Edwards was actively involved in using his position in office and in his PACs to solicit donations to make such a payment. He was charged with federal crimes. That’s not even mentioned here in state court, it is record keeping violations, beyond the statute of limitations for such violations, alleging a legal violation at a different level that the indictment does not mention. It’s just the same smear machine we’ve seen for years now.
Fred,
In NYS law, the statute of limitations is held in abeyance while the defendant is in public office. That’s not going to be a problem for the DA. While the particulars of the two cases are different, I still say they are quite similar. This quote about the Edwards trial could easily be about Trump. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the jury verdicts also end up being similar.
“It’s not illegal to be a pig,” Brett Kappel, a Washington campaign finance expert, told the Washington Post at the time. “Is what Edwards did slimy? Absolutely. Everyone will agree it was reprehensible. But it’s not a crime.”
TTG,
Trump is charged in state court not federal court. The state has no authority to prosecute infractions of federal law. Your hatred of Trump clouds your judgement, but you are certainly correct in fearing the man’s ability to end your party’s destructive policies.
Fred,
NYS has campaign finance laws that explicitly apply to all elections including federal elections. The DA does not need to rely on federal law.
If I may, it’s not the paying of hush money that is the crime, it is the falsification of business records regarding it that is the crime. If The money had been paid in to Trump’s pocket and he’d had a money order made out, No Problem. If he had the payment entered in to the books as “Hush Money”, no problem. Putting it in the books as something else is a big problem, and probably(in my evil little mind) driven by a desire not to pay taxes on it like would have happened if he’d just paid himself the money and cut a personal check.
The connection with Clinton is that the trouble comes from covering something up that was not really illegal in the first place, if he’d have just come clean. For god’s sake he did not disavow “grab them by the __”, but he felt the need to cover this up this way??? If I was more sympathetic, I’d say it was tragic, but I am not, and I don’t think it is.
https://twitter.com/martyrmade/status/1643383390224420864?s=21
I agree with this statement. No presidential candidate and POTUS in recent memory has been subject to the level of investigations and media lynching as he has. The FBI even went to the extent of falsifying a FISA affidavit. And the best part, he did nothing to upset the well established DC applecart. He hired his entire administration from the same DC establishment and didn’t Drain Any Swamp.
Pecker from the rag paper got caught up in this via his own illegal $ handling and gave Trump up. He will be the main and decisive prosecution witness.
Al,
Hopium is an abundant resource in some parts of the Republic.
New servants will offer themselves to the Martyr of MAGA, Mr. Superlative. Standard practise “Catch and Kill”, hardly illegal to buy and story and not print it.
Besides, all the ladies suddenly surfacing with their stories at the times. It was oh so lame.
It is very, very sickening to watch the American political soap opera. wWas it as bad when the GOP was out to get Bill Clinton?
So Trump paid hush money via one of his lawyers. So what?
Jonathan Turley: He is reportedly going to convert a misdemeanor for falsifying financial records into a prosecution of a federal crime.
The federal crime is reportedly the failure to report a payment of $130,000 to former porn star Stormy Daniels to hush up an affair.
https://twitter.com/cernovich/status/1643422475315970048?s=21
IMO, Cernovich is getting the zeitgeist correct. Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2024. Possibly in a rematch with Biden.
Meanwhile, Dems are rolling into major state offices over the post 4 yrs. States like Mi, Pa, and Wisc going straight Dem in statewide voting vs MAGA/Trumpite candidates.
Al,
Michigan already had a democratic governor, secretary of state, AG. Continuing that is simply a sign of the incompetence of the state party, the opposite in Florida, though nobody asks where rising D star Andrew Gillum is nowadays. Presidential hopeful and star Governor Cuomo is ….. many such stories none talk about.
Al,
The Dems are creating PACs to knock out DeSantis in the primary. They believe Trump would be an easier candidate to defeat in the general election. Your point about the Trump endorsed candidates in the recent mid-terms is correct.
The trial if it gets to that in 2024 will be ratings gold and Trump will use it very effectively to win the Republican nomination. This indictment is a killer for the DeSantis primary campaign.
Sam, Agree, Dems will know DeSantis a big threat in 2024.
Trump, though, a blessing in 2024 for Dems. He has led the Repubs to successions of major, disappointing defeats in 2018, 2020, 2022, and now in 2023. Trumpite candidates winning Repub primaries have consistently gone down in flames often to far left Dems (How in Hell did Fetterman get elected? lol)
They are making this the thing. It is not the thing. These BRICs countries and their friends aren’t strong yet but they are getting there and they don’t even have to be that strong, just strong enough to inflict severe economic damage which they seem hell bent on doing and you can’t blame them. There is a heavy price to be paid and we will end up paying it. Trump is the least of their problems. He’s not even a problem and never was. They blocked him at every turn so what’s the point. Just cheat in another election and call it a day.
Interesting breakdown of Ann indictment short on facts and can’t even let our who exactly was the victim of fraud:
https://amgreatness.com/2023/04/04/seven-things-you-dont-know-about-the-stormy-daniels-hush-money-case/
I agree this is just the first salvo, Georgia will be next up and then the Jack Smith and the DOJ. All conveniently times too run thru the 2024 election…
Maybe the day is coming when repudiated political figures will get their “nine grams” on the orders of the new boss. Think it can’t happen here? Don’t be so sure. It seems to me a sizeable majority of the Democrat party’s membership would secretly approve of such a fate for Trump, or maybe they’d be satisfied with a life sentence to Gitmo….
Fred, no, Michigan had Repub Gov and Att Gen prior to Trump.
As long as Trumpites are being run out there by Repub Party, the Dems will be more successful.
Blues sweep in Wisconsin yesterday. Ended 15 yr Repub controlled State Supreme Court. Also many down ballot spots, such as knocking out Walker appointed appeals court judge by 2 to 1 vote.
Repubs keep putting up Trumpites, Dems keep knocking them down. Az was another state gone Dem.
We are way past any of this mattering. Political persecution, elections, justice. Nobody sees the value in taking the morale high ground enough to matter anymore. We had a good run but the circling the drain has begun and everyone knows it. The welfare state the US has become is out of control. I am however hopeful. Once the welfare system collapses we can get our country back. Everyone goes back to work and grinding it out. No more printing money so no more funny.
There are too many weird “theories” behind the indictments:
Bragg’s case against Trump hits a wall of skepticism — even from Trump’s critics
A day after the historic arraignment, questions nagged Bragg’s case.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/05/alvin-bragg-case-against-trump-00090602
————
My thoughts involve Bragg having been duped somehow, maybe relying on underlings who were paid off by republicans in Trump’s corner to the obvious: The US can’t even find a way to charge this extremely, how to say, unusual and well, frankly unsavory, person with crimes that voters can understand? Fits in perfectly in a country with 765 mass shootings per year – gone off the rails. Maybe it’s something else in addition, such as trying to appear to be a “brilliant legal mind,” I don’t know.
“Look – my legal approach is so fancy and sophisticated that none of the top lawyers understand it!”
Trump is digging his own grave with his video threats to the judge and prosecutor. Trouble is, Trump has never accepted outside guidance from anyone.