On Alvin Bragg and the art of not taking the law too seriously

https://thehill.com/opinion/crimina...-the-art-of-not-taking-the-law-too-seriously/

This is a fairly concise article that gets people caught up on where we stand with the current Alvin Bragg prosecution of Trump in the hush money case. Bragg has diverted from previous public statements and even the pre-trial process once the trial kicked off showing it’s likely even he doesn’t know what they’re doing. An ex-senior Biden DOJ official left his cushy senior position to downgrade his career to lead these Trump cases and thus far it has been a circus.

A synopsis so we’re all caught up.

- Bragg has charged Trump with crimes relating to falsifying business records and payments.
- These are misdemeanors past the statute of limitations.
- In order to charge Trump he needed to make them a felony to extend the statute of limitations. He can do this by saying it was done in furtherance of another crime. He never definitively told anyone, including the defense, what that other crime was until after the trial started, but he effectively said it was a federal campaign allegation originally.
- Now he is saying that additional crime is claiming Trump conspired to win his election (federal election) by an unlawful means. The FEC and DOJ looked into these allegations already and declined there was no wrong doing that would even result in a civil penalty (unlike his opponent for payments for the Steele Dossier).
- He is basically using two alleged crimes that are both past the statute of limitations to say they are no longer past the statute of limitations.
- The payments were classified as legal expenses. It’s uncertain whether that’s even illegal. Bragg still hasn’t said what they should have been annotated as. It’s uncertain he even knows at this point. I’m sure he’ll figure it out as he goes. This appears to be about election interference and less about justice.
- Michael Cohen, a serial perjurer, was acting as Trump’s personal attorney. He submitted monthly invoices for the payments.
- Trump’s bookkeeper annotated the ledgers and cut the checks based on Cohen’s billing.
- The prosecution’s first witness (head of tabloid) has said Trump told him to tell his attorney, Cohen, if he heard anything negative about him… which he did. After he spoke to Trump about killing stories, Trump told him that he had no idea Cohen was paying to kill stories on his behalf and didn’t want to pay to kill stories because the news always gets out anyway.
- We are all still dying to see if Cohen admits to even more perjury like he did during the Engoron hearings which Bragg hasn’t prosecuted because he’s clearly okay with suborning perjury against Trump.

 

Hillary Clinton, Recidivist Election-Theft Conspirator

'Elected progressive Democratic DA Alvin Bragg has ignored Hillary Clinton’s conspiracy to steal the 2016 election by violating federal election law.'



But her name isn't Trump.

'Hillary Clinton — was “an active participant” in what Bragg would frame as a conspiracy to steal an election by suppressing negative information in violation of federal campaign-finance laws. What’s more, on that latter occasion she employed the same pretend-it’s-legal-fees artifice that the Clintons used in 1992 and that her rival, Donald Trump, is also alleged to have used in 2016.'

'Regarding 1992, the Clinton campaign used a law firm as the intermediary for tens of thousands of dollars in payments to a private investigator (Jack Palladino) whose task was to obtain the silence of women who claimed to have had affairs with Bill Clinton.'

'This assured that only the Denver law firm showed up in disclosures with the Federal Election Commission. How was the payment categorized? As legal fees (reminder: Trump is getting prosecuted because he booked his payments to Michael Cohen, his equivalent of Palladino, as legal fees rather than reimbursement of a loan).'

'Well, it turns out that this 1992 tactic — booking as legal fees what might euphemistically be called “research” — was the blueprint for the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, in cahoots with the Democratic National Committee. They paid their law firm, Perkins Coie, which retained the research firm Fusion GPS and its contractor, former British spy Christopher Steele, to generate the farcical Steele dossier that was shared with the FBI, the State Department, and the media to smear Trump as a clandestine agent of the Kremlin.'

Read the whole thing.

 

I can see no way a honest jury member could ever make ANY decision on these shady lawfare charges... there are lawyers out there that are still asking "What are the charges?", so I am sure the jury is saying the same thing...
From some reporting one slip up the judge allowed...and it is Merchan job to make clear.... the law need to be explained that neither "catch and kill" nor NDA are illegal... Bragg is trying to make them some sort of shady backroom deals when they are perfectly legit and done every day... it seems he is trying to push that idea... Merchan also needs to clean up the fact state DA's can't charge federal crimes...

 

We have to keep repeating; whatever it takes.

 

What Happens When the Law and the Indictment Do Not State What the Crime Is.



Bragg is a lawless prosecutor. 'Bragg’s prosecution of former president Donald Trump violates both the federal and state constitutions.'

'It offends the U.S. Constitution because the indictment pleads a crime (felony falsification of business records) that is different from the one Bragg is presenting to the jury (the “crime” of conspiracy to steal an election by violating federal campaign-finance statutes — a crime that does not exist in New York law). The prosecution flouts New York’s constitution because the felony business-records-falsification statute (§175.10) does not describe with specificity what is meant by “another crime” — i.e., assuming a person falsifies business records with a fraudulent intent to conceal “another crime,” the statute does not elaborate, by describing conduct or citing other statutory provisions, what these other crimes are that would trigger the felony penalty.'

We learned last year that "Due Process" does not guarantee a right to abortion, which is obvious, but "Due Process" must include 'penal statutes and indictments that put people on notice of what conduct has been proscribed and what proscribed conduct has been charged.'

'When basic due process is denied, we get the confusing farce that is the ongoing trial.'

'it is not against the law to bury damaging stories, as Rich reminded us yesterday in recalling the energetic 1992 Clinton-campaign project to bury the stories of numerous women who claimed to have had flings with Bill Clinton.'

Buying the stories and not running them 'do not violate the criminal law because the legislature did not make them statutory crimes.'

'no conspiracy is charged against Trump in the indictment, and there is no conspiracy statute in New York law that criminalizes a “secret plot” to help a candidate suppress politically damaging information.'

'When Trump’s lawyers pointed that out last week, noting that nondisclosure agreements (a.k.a. “hush-money” deals) are legal and common, Bragg’s assistant prosecutor Joshua Steinglass countered that there was a conspiracy statute in the case — the New York crime of “conspiracy to promote or prevent election,” codified in §17-152 of the state’s election law. That conspiracy crime is not charged or even mentioned in the indictment. It is not specified in the felony business-records-falsification statute, as the New York constitution requires if it is going to be enforced as part of that statute. '

https://archive.ph/ijEj9

 

This jury is already been instructed how to decide.

 

I'm amazed how the judge is even allowing all this nonsense to happen. He's letting Bragg take a single incident and break it down into dozens of charges, Bragg ran on getting Trump, the judge's daughter is making millions from this trial and so on. With all the appeal possibilities, you'd think the judge would protect his reputation, but orange man bad has to go down.

 

He is protecting his reputation in the deep blue district in which he sits. The legal circles in that part of the US are backward. They don't want judges to uphold the law if it means Trump has a better chance of winning the election. His cocktail parties would be very awkward if he followed the law and dismissed this nonsense outright.

 

Everybody wants to be the guy that "got Trump".

 

Sometimes a jury of your peers is actually composed of a bunch of easily led idiots and they can and will do anything to get the result they want. A person may be smart, but people in groups, in my experience, are stupid. Too many lazy followers unable or unwilling to think for themselves.

 

Absolutely ! Just like everybody wanted to be the guy who got Capone.

 

WHAT TWO-TIERED JUSTICE SYSTEM? Alvin Bragg May Not Prosecute Pro-Palestinian Rioters Who Occupied Columbia University.

Folks on the Right are handled one way,
Folks on the Left are handled in another.

 

"I have long been a critic of the Bragg indictment as legally incomprehensible."

Such an admission doesn't speak well of Jon's legal acumen. But really, me thinks he's feigning confusion so as to entertain an audience eager to be disinformed. BTW, Hope did His Orangeness no favors today. To say things aren't going well for Sleepy Don is an under statement.

 

It's a kangaroo court. Of course things aren't going his way. That's by design.

 

It would be Merchan's responsibility to make sure the laws of a NDA and catch and kill stuff is perfectly legal, instead of letting the Biden prosecutor mislead the jury...

 

I watched The Five on Fox tonight. According to them the Bragg case is disintergrating fast and furious. It's amazing what they feed to the viewers. If he's found guilt, they will be a lot of stunned and pissed off Fox Five viewers. The beauty for Trump here, he only needs one juror to be either confused or sympathic. We shall see...

 

CNN Panelist #1: I've seen very little evidence of Trump's direct involvement in getting this accomplished. Correct me if I'm wrong.

CNN Panelist #2: No you're right...

Up until this part of the trial it hasn't gone well for Bragg. But we know the serial perjurer is the star witness. So far the other witnesses have only helped discredit Cohen and have largely said they haven't seen Trump's involvement.

 

All quotes from Thursday......Fox is one days short, and a few dollars shorter. So sorry.

 

I’m sure the Orange Stain will be sharing a cell with the rioters, very shortly. If not for contempt, then for multiple felony convictions.

 

Trump says he's filing a constitutional motion to remove Judge Merchans gag order "This judge has taken away my constitutional right, and as the Republican candidate, I should be able to respond"

https://twitter.com/julie_kelly2

 

What special status does that grant him ?

Republicans don’t have to obey the law ?

What am I saying , of course they don’t !
According to Republicans and MAGA types …..

 

The only way Trump can be found guilty is if the prosecutor lied to the jury.

 

OR if he’s actually GUILTY and the jury agrees with the prosecutor !

Due process , baby !

 

Is that the alternate reality line playing on repeat on Earth II WBK? BTW, you do know that Earth II only exists in Ultra MAGA minds (no pun intended ) right?

 

I think when the dust has settled, it will be Bragg who loses the most over this bullshit case