Let’s hope Alvin Bragg has more: more documents, more secret conversations, more evidence than has been publicly revealed to prove that Donald Trump criminally belongs to more than $130,000 in cash paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney who now gets more attention than any prosecutor since Trump’s old foe Robert Mueller, will most likely show his hand publicly for the first time Tuesday with the unveiling of a grand jury indictment last week.
Whatever is in this hand, and if it goes beyond the faint fragments that have come to light in an avalanche of news, will be fundamental to the country’s democracy.
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Publicly revealed evidence from the secret grand jury proceeding indicates that Bragg’s workplace is following a new legal theory that describes the hush money to Daniels as an illegal donation to Trump’s 2016 campaign, a matter dealt with by federal prosecutors, not a local prosecutor.
A number of legal experts I’ve spoken to describe the case, based on what is now publicly known, as a dunk for prosecutors who are used to winning the vast majority of their cases.
That’s why the main points of the indictment, which in total would be more than two dozen charges, will be so critical at a time when the country is entering uncharted waters, with a former president facing impeachment and running again for the White House.
Does Bragg have more than we have publicly noticed, if not irrefutable evidence, at least more evidence that Trump knowingly paid Daniels in particular to assist in his bid for the White House and illegally falsified business records in the process?Hopefully, for the intelligence of the country, because an unstable lawsuit that ultimately fails in court would not help anyone, perhaps Trump in his bid for the White House.
Trump has committed many shady acts: he is not the right one to accuse him.
My Republican colleagues: Trump needs you to think that he is constantly the victim. Maybe he’s just a bad guy.
The New York grand jury heard from witnesses last week, adding a momentary appearance through Trump’s best friend David Pecker, the former editor of the National Enquirer, who was involved with Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen in negotiating the $130,000 payment to Daniels to keep quiet ahead of the 2016 election for what he said was an affair with Trump.
Pecker also worried about a separate payment to former Playboy-style Karen McDougal over her relationship with Trump.
It’s unknown what exactly Pecker told the grand jury last week. His appearance suggests that prosecutors not only summarized the main points of the case, but collected evidence opposing Trump virtually until the day the grand jury voted to indict him.
Trump’s most fervent supporters will never accept it as true with any legal judgment, no matter how strong the evidence, as opposed to a guy who has been yelling at various “witch hunts” for years and said he might “shoot someone” in the middle. of Fifth Avenue and “wouldn’t lose any voters. “
Toxic polarization poisons democracy: I still have hope that we can save it.
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But for others, whether Trump allies or opponents, the strength of the evidence presented in the still-sealed indictment will provide a first indication of whether Bragg is right about the 45th president.
This is an important question, because if the thief’s case against Trump is decided through a court, political influence in the noisy court of public opinion will extend into the 2024 election and beyond.
Trump, of course, faces other criminal investigations beyond Bragg’s workplace: an investigation through the Atlanta district attorney into imaginable election interference in the attempt to oppose his 2020 election defeat in the state; and a separate investigation through Jack Smith, special counsel to the U. S. Department of Justice. Trump’s retention of classified documents after he left the White House and possible election interference.
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These investigations face their own legal hurdles if they are to be carried out. But Bragg, as the first to come to light, is under scrutiny, with Trump already attacking the prosecutor in terms of “animal” and raising the specter of violence from his prosecution.
With so much at stake, Bragg will have to get it right.
Eric Lichtblau is an investigative journalist in Washington who won two Pulitzer Prizes in journalism writing about national security and law enforcement issues.
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