Trump On Trial
By
Leonard Zwelling
The case against Donald Trump being adjudicated in Manhattan is the weakest of the four against him. It is also the one that most people care least about.
But the trials in Washington (January 6), Florida (sequestered confidential documents), and Georgia (election interference) are all tied up in procedural nonsense not to mention bad behavior on the part of some prosecutors and judges, so they are unlikely to start before election day. Thus, if the legal system is going to affect the outcome of the November election, the case against Donald Trump in New York is the one to watch.
In case you have been on vacation for the past few years, here’s the deal.
Having extramarital sex with a porn star is not illegal.
Paying her $130,000 to not reveal the encounter is also not illegal.
Reimbursing your own lawyer for setting up the payments with his own money is also not illegal.
But if you made the payments in order to hush her up so as to favor your candidacy for President, but called the payments to help your chances “legal fees” in your books, that might be illegal. That’s what this case is about.
It is also the case that the district attorney has to make and to convince all twelve of the good New York citizen jurors that Mr. Trump did the deed knowingly, purposefully, consciously. And remember, the last New York DA chose not to make this case.
So far, I believe that the prosecution has overplayed its hand a bit. The details of Stormy Daniel’s sex with Donald Trump are totally irrelevant. Whether or not Michael Cohen is a liar is pretty ho hum, too.
As I heard on a news show, it’s all about the documents. If there are signed checks to Michael Cohen from Donald Trump to the tune of $130,000 and they were meant to improve his chances in the 2016 election and they were kept on the books as legal fees, the prosecution has a case.
Next, we will see what the defense has in the way of witnesses.
The point is this case is about bupkes. No one cares about any of it and it seems to be helping Mr. Trump anyway.
The other cases against him are far more serious. Should he win the election, he will order the Department of Justice to drop all the federal cases. The state case in Georgia is in shambles because of the district attorney’s sexual relationship with her assistant. My guess is that case will get bogged down for years.
Personally, if we must have this ridiculous election contest between two old men, one feeble, one awful, maybe just let them have a cage match to figure it out.
It makes more sense than this trial and I’d cough up the $60 to watch on pay-for-view. Wouldn’t you?
