They are indicting him.
After more than a week’s speculation, we learnt yesterday that a New York grand jury voted to indict Trump on felony business records violations charges related to payments made porn star Stormy Dans. According to the New York Times, Trump will be taken for fingerprints and booked in Manhattan jail. He might even be handcuffed.
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Although it is possible to theorize that Manhattan D.A. does not matter, there are few reasons to believe so. Alvin Bragg must prove that Trump misclassified the money in order to get a felony conviction under New York’s records falsification statute. The only possible criminal activity that could have resulted from the misclassified payments (it isn’t a crime to send hush money to porn stars, at least not yet) is a campaign finance violation. It is not clear that this theory holds true, as the Obama Justice Department failed to convict John Edwards of campaign finance violations based on a similar theory.
We are in territory of the banana republic. An indictment by a local prosecutor against a former president, and his chief political rival is what you would expect in Venezuela, or any other African dictatorship. Not the United States. It’s not impossible, but it’s possible under this administration. The Justice Department has been used against its political enemies.
Nancy Pelosi tweeted, “Everyone has the right of a trial to prove innocent.” Although it is quite right-wing, this is not the way America’s justice system should operate. We are learning a lot more than we think we know right now.
