USA 2024 Elections Thread

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Soros-Backed Manhattan DA's Made-For-TV Trump Prosecution Is "Legally Pathetic"

https://thehill.com/opinion/judiciary/3906498-get-ready-for-manhattan-das-made-for-tv-trump-prosecution-high-on-ratings-but-short-on-the-law/
https://www.theepochtimes.com/jonathan-turley-manhattan-das-potential-case-against-trump-legally-pathetic_5133735.html
https://nypost.com/2022/01/09/bill-bratton-slams-da-alvin-bragg-blames-soros-for-election/
https://trendingpoliticsnews.com/creepy-old-dude-knab/

George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley panned
reports of the looming potential case against former President Donald
Trump after the former commander-in-chief announced he may be arrested
in the next week.

As The Epoch Times' Jack Phillips reports below, alleged unnamed court
sources have told multiple news outlets that Trump could be indicted
in the near future, while Trump said via Truth Social that he expects
to be arrested by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office on
Tuesday. Bragg’s office has not publicly confirmed reports that he may
possibly indict the former president for allegedly misclassifying a
$130,000 hush payment made to Stormy Daniels in 2016.

Trump has denied claims that he had an affair with Daniels in the
early 2000s.  However, unconfirmed reports alleged that a grand jury
in New York has been empaneled and may be seeking an indictment of the
former president.

But Turley said that based on those reports, the DA’s case against
Trump “is legally pathetic” and “is struggling to twist state laws to
effectively prosecute a federal case long ago rejected by the Justice
Department against Trump.”

    “In 2018 (yes, that is how long this theory has been around), I
wrote how difficult such a federal case would be under existing
election laws. Now, six years later, the same theory may be shoehorned
into a state claim,” wrote Turley, who was a former expert witness for
Trump’s first impeachment trial, for The Hill.

    “While we still do not know the specific state charges in the
anticipated indictment, the most-discussed would fall under Section
175 for falsifying business records, based on the claim that Trump
used legal expenses to conceal the alleged hush-payments that were
supposedly used to violate federal election laws,” Turley said.

    “While some legal experts have insisted such concealment is
clearly a criminal matter that must be charged, they were
conspicuously silent when Hillary Clinton faced a not-dissimilar
campaign-finance allegation."

He noted that a Section 175 charge “would normally be a misdemeanor”
and that the “only way to convert it into a Class E felony requires a
showing that the ‘intent to defraud includes an intent to commit
another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.’ That other
crime would appear to be the federal election violations which the
Justice Department previously declined to charge.”

Bragg’s office, meanwhile, could not prosecute the charge as a
misdemeanor as it falls outside the two-year statute of limitations,
Turley wrote. Instead, Bragg would have to pursue a felony charge.

    “Prosecutors working under Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr.,
also reportedly rejected the viability of using a New York law to
effectively charge a federal offense,” Turley noted.

DA Bragg (who was elected with a million dollars of support from
George Soros funneled through the Color of Change PAC) also previously
expressed doubts about the Daniels case and shut it down when he took
office several years ago, he said, adding that two lead prosecutors
resigned at the time.

    "...Bragg himself threw a flag on this play. I mean, he stopped
the two prosecutors who were moving toward a trial. They resigned in
protest. One of them then wrote a book. In my view, that book was
deeply improper and unprofessional. The book was about prosecuting
someone who had not been charged, let alone convicted. But it
triggered a huge amount of pressure on Bragg. It does appear that it
works. He then proceeded to bring this case."

If Trump is indicted, it may require Trump to travel to the district
attorney’s office in downtown New York to surrender. In white-collar
cases, the defendant’s lawyers and prosecutors typically agree on a
date and time, rather than arresting the person at home.

Trump would have his fingerprints and mugshot taken and would appear
for arraignment in court. He would likely be released on his own
recognizance and allowed to head home, legal analysts told Reuters.

Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told CNBC on Friday that Trump would
surrender if charged. If Trump refused to come in voluntarily,
prosecutors could seek to have him extradited from Florida, where he
currently resides.

On Saturday, Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told The Epoch Times in
an emailed statement that the former president has not been formally
notified of any pending arrest. Both Cheung and Trump accused Bragg, a
Democrat who received $1 million in campaign cash from a George
Soros-linked organization, of targeting him for political gain and
could try to seek dismissal of the charges on those grounds.

    “There has been no notification, other than illegal leaks from the
Justice Dept. and the DA’s office, to NBC and other fake news
carriers, that the George Soros-funded Radical Left Democrat
prosecutor in Manhattan has decided to take his Witch-Hunt to the next
level,” Cheung said.

    “President Trump is rightfully highlighting his innocence and the
weaponization of our injustice system,” he added.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has not responded to a
request for comment.

As Jonathan Turley concludes, via The Hill, while some will view it as
poetic justice for this former reality-TV host to be tried like a
televised talent show, the damage to the legal system is immense
whenever political pressure overwhelms prosecutorial judgment. The
criminal justice system can be a terrible weapon when used for
political purposes, an all-too-familiar spectacle in countries where
political foes can be targeted by the party in power.

None of this means Trump is blameless or should not be charged in
other cases. However, we seem to be on the verge of watching a
prosecution by plebiscite in this case.

The season opener of “America’s Got Trump” might be a guaranteed hit
with its New York audience — but it should be a flop as a prosecution.