Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Donald Trump on the hush money scheme he reportedly had with adult entertainer Stormy Daniels. On her part, she could have ridden into the sunset and collected the funds, but she had to keep her mouth shut. In 2016, she didn’t, creating a media frenzy that introduced us to her former attorney Michael Avenatti, who is now serving a 20-year sentence for various charges, including extortion and wire fraud. The gist of the legal action against Trump is that this arrangement constituted election financial fraud and that it could have impacted the direction of the presidential election. It’s laughable since Obama’s 2008 campaign operation violated campaign finance law, leading to a hefty fine. And Trump’s alleged tryst with a porn star was unlikely to sway the election. It’s a witch hunt.
Second, most of the charges Trump is facing are misdemeanors that expired under the statute of limitations, but that timeline was frozen per then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo under the pandemic emergency. And these misdemeanor charges were elevated to felonies based on some legal gibberish. It isn’t a serious legal action; the trial date tells you everything you need to know about its intent. It’s set to begin in March of 2024 (via WSJ):
A New York judge on Tuesday scheduled a March 25, 2024, trial date for former President Donald Trump on criminal charges related to his alleged role in paying hush money to a porn star.
The date, which the judge said wouldn’t be moved, means the case will be starting as Trump, who is running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is in the middle of the GOP primary campaign.
State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan set the schedule during a 15-minute court hearing and asked Trump, who appeared on a video screen, if he had a copy of the judge’s recent order that set limits on how he could view and share evidence, including on social media.
[…]
Manhattan prosecutors had argued the measures were needed to protect the integrity of the proceedings and the safety of case participants, citing the former president’s past attacks on judges, jurors and others.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said he had reviewed the order with his client, who remained unhappy about its terms.
“Because President Trump is running for president of the United States…he very much is concerned that his First Amendment rights are being violated by this protective order,” Blanche told the judge.
[…]
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg last month unveiled an indictment that charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, who alleges she had a sexual encounter with the former president, which he denies. Trump, who pleaded not guilty, has said he didn’t do anything wrong and accused Bragg, a Democrat, of being motivated by politics.
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Merchan, who has given money to groups aligned with the Democratic Party, said that Trump would be able to speak his mind as he’s the current frontrunner for the GOP nomination. The trial will begin as the presidential election cycle starts to pick up speed rapidly, and while a top candidate will be getting tons of media coverage—it’s hardly good. That’s the point. To stain Trump, anger his base, make them coalesce around him, and hope that he pushes him over the top for the Republican nomination. Democrats don’t want to win this trial. They want to use it to pour gasoline on the GOP base and make them renominate a man they beat in 2020, a person they think will be easier to defeat.
This election is going to be a long one. There isn’t enough bourbon to deal with all the lunacy emanating from this race.
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