Originally Posted by James Brown
Hi James:
I'd say it is not that simple. The NY prosecution which earned Trump the title of "convicted felon" was a politically motivated farce. Factually, Trump paid hush money to a porn star and he or his people booked it as "legal fees." This might be a misdemeanor, but they bumped it up to a felony because of a poorly defined and unproven secondary crime. One of the possible secondary crimes was election fraud.
For starters, it is inconceivable to me that the jury was instructed to consider three possible secondary crimes without requiring any finding meeting a burden of proof that any of the secondary crimes actually occurred. I'd bet big money that this verdict is overturned for lack of criminal due process, unless the NY court and prosecutor drop the case to save face.
Also, Hillary Clinton paid for a bogus opposition research document (The Steele Dossier) through her lawyers. They booked the payment as "legal fees" to hide the sourcing of the dossier from the public. I have cites from congressional investigations proving this activity in an older post, if necessary. It is not illegal to pay for oppo research, and it is not illegal to pay hush money (or as Rich would say, to enter into a non-disclosure agreement). The crime is apparently putting the payment on the books as "legal fees." The analogy to Clinton's payment is seamless. The secondary crime could be election fraud in either case (hiding material information from the public during an election). If I recall correctly, Clinton was fined by the federal election comission when her payment was discovered. Trump was not. I think even listing the election fraud as a secondary crime in the Trump case is bogus too, but apparently the NY Court found it persuasive.
Did NY prosecute Clinton? Hell no. The NY case against Trump is bogus and weaponized lawfare of the worst sort. Half the population calls Trump a "convicted felon" because of this travesty, and I can appreciate why he is angry about that.
It is hard to say whether the GA case is bogus lawfare or a legit prosecution. The prosecutors in GA messed it up so badly no one can tell.
Did Trump illegally withhold records in violation of the law, resulting in the DOJ asking Jack Smith to prosecute him? Of course he did. But so did Biden, Clinton, and apparently Pence. No prosecutions there. You can argue, and I appreciate, that Trump's lack of cooperation exacerbated the crime, but he did not destroy evidence like Clinton did. Here we have at least the appearance of a weaponization of justice.
I was looking forward to hearing the evidence, as it came in at trial, in the J6 case. Smith again, of course. Maybe Trump broke the law, maybe he did not, we will never know. Rod makes a pretty good argument that he did.
I am very comfortable however, saying that 3 outa 4, the NY, GA, and the documents cases were "lawfare" and a unique weaponization of justice. It is my profound hope that Trump rises above and does not retaliate, but that is, of course, a fool's hope. The Democrats screwed up immensely when they prosecuted Trump in NY, GA and in the documents case. Where this ends, I sure do not know. I know where it started though, and the Ds who cried about the weaponization of justice throughout the campaign were gaslighting and the voters knew it. J
I'm sorry, Jim. I can't buy the idea that Trump was mistreated. Besides that, during his first term, Trump used executive office power to go after his perceived enemies. The only reason he wasn't more successful was that, in some cases, people on the inside prevented him from acting. In other cases, law enforcement entities found nothing to charge people with.
Trump spoke publicly all the time about wanting to use the IRS, the CIA, the FBI, or the DOJ to investigate darn near everyone. There have been plenty of first-hand eyewitness accounts regarding how Trump wanted to act on his public statements but was rebuffed by the likes of John Kelly, his former chief of staff, and Donald F. McGahn, his former White House counsel. There are plenty of other well-documented accounts where the law enforcement offices investigated but found nothing to charge, such as in the case of John Kerry speaking with Iranian officials after he left office.
So, I'm sorry, but Trump is no victim. The investigations were legal, and frankly, I don't see the double standard you insist exists.