Potential field responds to Trump indictment by attacking Bragg

The First Time a Grand Jury Indicts a Former President of the United States: The Case against Alvin Bragg and Joe Biden

For the first time in American history, a grand jury has indicted a former president of the United States, The Times reported on Thursday. Donald Trump spent years as a candidate, in office and out of office, ignoring democratic and legal norms and precedents, trying to bend the Justice Department and the judiciary to his whims and behaving as if rules didn’t apply to him.

The long-running investigation first began under Bragg’s predecessor, Cy Vance, when Trump was in office. It relates to a $130,000 payment made by Trump’s then-personal attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in late October 2016, days before the 2016 presidential election, to silence her from going public about an alleged affair with Trump a decade earlier. Trump denied the affair.

There is nothing in American history that approaches the tumult of the charging and possible trial and conviction of a former president – especially since Trump and his supporters are already claiming that the indictment represents the weaponized politicization of the justice system.

This is Montanaro. Well, he’s obviously going to try to use it and fire up his base even more than he already has. I mean, he’s already doing that. In a statement this evening, he attacked the prosecutor, the New York district attorney – Alvin Bragg, a Democrat – called the indictment political persecution, blatant election interference and a witch hunt that will backfire on Democrats. Trump has the Republican’s approval on Capitol Hill. Kevin McCarthy called the indictment an abuse of power. And House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan put out a one-word statement. It said things that were outrageous. So there you go.

“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” the former president said. “The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it. So our Movement, and our Party – united and strong – will first defeat Alvin Bragg, and then we will defeat Joe Biden, and we are going to throw every last one of these Crooked Democrats out of office so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The Case of Donald J. Bragg: Indictment of the Grand Jury and the Case of a Criminally-Incriminated President

Like all Americans accused of crimes, Trump is entitled to the presumption of innocence and his full rights under the Constitution, which he tried to overturn on January, 6, 2021. The legitimacy of American justice will be questioned by the perception of this incredible case, and whether all citizens are considered equal under the law. Or is Trump being singled out because of who he is?

The former president was caught off guard by the decision of the grand jury to indict him, and he began to think that news reports about an indictment was weeks away.

The legal action against Trump will have implications for the 2020 presidential campaign, as the former president has promised to keep running regardless of the charges against him.

Trump has avoided legal consequences in the past. He has settled a number of private civil lawsuits through the years and paid his way out of disputes concerning the Trump Organization, his namesake company. As president, he was twice impeached by the Democratic-led House, but avoided conviction by the Senate.

The New York district attorney criticized the House Republicans for working with Donald Trump, accusing them of tarnishing the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges.

Three Republican chairmen, including Jordan, sent a letter asking Bragg for information and testimony about his investigation before he was indicted. Bragg’s office pushed back, but the Republican chairmen have doubled down.

The number two House Republican – Majority Leader Steve Scalise – called it “outrageous.” In a tweet, Scalise called the indictment “one of the clearest examples of extremist Democrats weaponizing government to attack their political opponents.”

There is a judge in this case. There are jurors. There are appeals. I believe justice will be accomplished in the end. If he’s guilty it will show up. If it isn’t, I think that will be shown as well.

Donald Trump’s Indictment in New York is a Political Campaign to Derail the Republican Candidate for the Presidential Presidential Presidency

According to court filings in Cohen’s own federal prosecution, Trump Organization executives authorized payments to him totaling $420,000 to cover his original $130,000 payment and tax liabilities and reward him with a bonus. The Trump Organization’s internal books show the reimbursements as a legal expense. Trump has denied knowledge of the payment.

A member of the leadership of the House attacked Bragg and said the indictment had made Donald Trump the Republican nominee for president.

All of this plays into the air of grievance Trump, a New York billionaire, has puffed into existence that he’s used to propel his political fortunes. He’s argued with his base of supporters, that the left has it in for him and that this indictment and investigation in New York are nothing but a politically motivated attempt to derail his presidential campaign.

The rule of law is turned into a political agenda because of the weaponization of the legal system. It is un-American,” DeSantis tweeted. The Manhattan District Attorney has bent the law in order to excuse criminal behavior. Yet, now he is stretching the law to target a political opponent.”

If Trump refused to turn himself in, he would refuse to allow New York to extradite him, which could cause a constitutional crisis.

Bragg’s indictment is about revenge – not about justice: The case of the South Carolina Democratic gov. Nikki Haley

Bragg had some name recognition among Republicans who wanted to tie his positions on criminal justice to national Democrats like Joe Biden, as the city they often depict was besieged by violent crime. In the run-up to the indictment and then in its immediate aftermath, even those Republicans who have been more willing to criticize Trump denounced Bragg’s investigation as a political stunt or an abuse of power.

When an American is targeted in a campaign, it offends the idea of the majority of the American people who believe in fairness and equal treatment before the law.

The Republican governor of Virginia had a message on social media. Like DeSantis and others, he focused on Bragg and ignored the substance of the charges against Trump.

He said that the indictment didn’t pass the smell test. The Department of Justice looked into the facts and decided there wasn’t any case to be made against President Trump. This is the same District Attorney who is known for letting violent criminals off the hook in Manhattan, but is laser focused on prosecuting a former President.

Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, is the only Republican heavyweight apart from Trump to formally declare her candidacy. She too toed a middle ground, tweeting, “This is more about revenge than it is about justice,” and posted a clip of a recent Fox News interview in which she denounced Bragg’s case as a “political prosecution.”

Bragg was accused of undermining America’s confidence in the legal system by another Trump Cabinet official considering a primary run.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who has been making swings through Iowa, called Trump’s indictment a “travesty” and railed against Bragg and the “far left” in a statement.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a more ardent Trump critic than other potential candidates, offered a more measured take, reiterating his opposition to Trump’s attempt to win back the White House, but still saving his toughest criticism for the prosecutor.

It is crucial that the decision on America’s next President be made at the ballot box and not in the court system. Donald Trump should not be the next President, but that should be decided by the voters.”

But even as the GOP falls in line behind Trump, the political fallout remains unclear. Trump commands a deeply loyal following and leads in most early primary polls. Still, voters largely rejected his favored candidates during the midterms and his indictment will raise further questions about his viability in 2024.

The Case for Stopping Pseudoscalar Hush Money: When Donald Trump vowed to Reverse himself and Kicked Bragg

“The Deep State will use anything at their disposal to shut down the one political movement that puts YOU first,” his campaign said in a Thursday evening email to supporters.

Some people are still quiet after a day and a half. Trump said earlier this month that he would be arrested, and then the campaign account took to the internet to say that history would judge his silence.

“I don’t know what goes into paying porn star hush money to keep their story quiet about an affair.” said GOP congressman Ron DeSantis at a Panama City news conference. “I just, I can’t speak to that.”

Chris Christie, who became a friend of President Donald Trump before reversing himself and backing him again, was silent on Thursday night. He predicted an indictment would benefit the former president and criticized Bragg during a Fox News interview last week.

“I don’t think this is the crime of the century,” Christie said, “and it’s certainly not a case that is going to improve, as I said, the everyday lives of the citizens of Manhattan.”

The Republican governor of New Hampshire turned his ire at his political opponents and the press, instead telling CNN he needed more information before making a decision.

The media and a lot of Democrats misplayed this, in order to build sympathy for the former president. “And it does drastically change the paradigm as we go into the ’24 election.”

The Indictment of the Special Representative of the United States Senator to the House of Representatives is a Phenomenological Black Hole, Not a Political Witch Hunt

The news that Trump was indicted by a Manhattan grand jury is a sign of the power that Trump still has in Congress, as key House Republican leaders lined up to defend him.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted that Bragg has “irreparably damaged our country in an attempt to interfere in our Presidential election.” The probe was “an abuse of power from the district attorney focused on political vengeance” according to the Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.

The House GOP conference chair released a statement saying that the indictment was a political witch hunt and a dark day for America.

The response from key congressional Republicans came as the indictment against Trump was filed under seal and will be announced in the coming days. The charges are not publicly known at this time, one source told CNN.

President Donald Trump was always up for us. He puts the people above all the other people. The powerful will never stop coming for him because of that.

NPR’s Adrian Florido talks to Kim Wehle, former U.S. attorney and now professor at the University of Baltimore, about the political and legal implications of an indictment of former President Trump.

WEHLE: No, I’m not, especially given that we’ve been sort of hand-wringing over it for many days now. It’s good to have it happen. And hopefully we will see, in due course, the actual terms of the indictment. Because until we see that, it’s very hard to really do a fair analysis of it, I think.

FLORIDO: We know the legal code, but we don’t yet know the specific charges that he faces. What charges would the former president be facing?

WEHLE: Well, it sounds like what people are expecting is a violation of New York Penal Code, Section 175.10, which is falsifying business records in the first degree. That provision makes it illegal to falsify business records. It makes it a felony if that was done with an intent to commit another crime. I think that the payoff of adult film star Ms Daniels to keep quiet about their encounter with President Trump is one of the crimes committed by Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen says that Donald Trump paid him back in $35,000 installments as a legal retainer fee when there was no actual legal services provided. It’s important that voters think of the presidential candidates in the same way, even if the charge doesn’t reach the heights that people would expect from a candidate, so why would you hide that?

Wehle. Well, it’s a Class E felony under Manhattan – New York law, so I believe it’s up to four years in prison. I think it’s – you know, that’s way, way down the line. We have to get through many hurdles. Due process is attached to Mr. Trump. I think it’s important to distinguish the political stakes from the legal stakes, and make sure that there are procedural, evidentiary and constitutional protections in place to make sure that that question is fair.

FLORIDO: The Manhattan district attorney is bringing this case. His predecessor did not pursue charges when he looked into these alleged payments but I think that the strength of this case is questionable. What do you think?

Wehle. The former CFO Allen Weisselberg was indicted and convicted of tax fraud and other crimes, and at that point, Cy Vance was looking into whether Donald Trump would be included in that indictment and conviction. And Mr. Bragg took some heat politically for not pursuing that, so, I mean, you could argue, you know, he was less aggressive on one, more aggressive on the other. The voters of Manhattan voted for him and Donald Trump and now all of this is about the grand jury of his peers that indicted him. Ultimately, if the case goes to trial, other voters of Manhattan will make determinations as to whether he is guilty or not.

FlaorIDO: We’ve got about 20 seconds left. We don’t know precisely when these charges will be formally announced, but can you walk us in about 15 seconds what happens next?

WEHLE: He would either be arrested or show up for an court appearance, and then enter a plea. I worked on the Whitewater investigation a long time ago. When Bill Clinton was before a grand jury, there were a lot of sort of special circumstances…

That was given to him. I think Donald Trump deserves the same respect of the office he’s going to get if he accepts them.

NPR: How a Grand Jury Decides to Investigate a Ulysses-S. Grant-Rosen Charge

NPR transcripts are created before a deadline. This may be revised in the future, or it may be in its final form. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

And to Trump’s messaging, two-thirds of people overall think that the charges in New York are not that serious, and 6 in 10 say the investigation is politically motivated. Of course, this decision, though, is from a grand jury, not exactly something done by fiat, by a prosecutor or a judge. And remember, a grand jury hears evidence from a prosecutor, then decides whether there’s enough there to file criminal charges against a suspect. A jury of his peers appears to think it’s a conspiracy.

MONTANARO: Not really. Nixon never faced charges after Gerald Ford pardoned him. I mean, you have to go all the way back to 1872 to find a president who was even arrested. You know, President Ulysses S. Grant was speeding – arrested for speeding with his horse-drawn carriage in D.C. But, you know, let’s not overlook the fact that Trump is now the first former American president to face criminal charges.

The Wild Card: Preserving Democracy in the Context of Persuadable Electorate. Is Flaor IDO Really Trying to Be President

That is a pretty big wild card since we found that a lot of people ranked preservation of democracy as one of the most important issues facing the country. And that’s true of persuadable voters. Independents, for example, ranked preserving democracy second behind the economy. Trump’s brand, we know, has been toxic in competitive states in the last few elections, and he’s at risk with independents. Majorities don’t have a favorable opinion of him and that they believe that he should not be president.

It is very difficult to say. because 80% of them say they have a favorable opinion of Trump. Three-quarters say they want him to be president, and there are not any Republicans who are really making a sustained effort against him.

He is named FlaorIDO. Of course, this is a developing story. We’re looking forward to talking to you in the next few days. Thanks, Domenico Montanaro.

Donald Trump & The Pizzagate Era: The 2016 U.S. Senate Campaign Was Cutoff by a Wide-Range Russia Operation, and a New National Disaster

In the 2016 race’s final push, in an election that came down to incredibly narrow victories in just three states—10,704 voters in Michigan, 46,765 in Pennsylvania, and 22,177 in Wisconsin—and where Trump lost the overall popular vote by some 3 million votes, he was helped along by a massive and wide-ranging official Russian government operation. The effort was funded in part by Yevgeny Prigozhin who is the leader of the mercenary army which attacked US social media companies and activists in Ukraine. The second arm of the Russian operation included the hacking and leaking of top Democrats, according to the US Department of Justice. This gave rise to the Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

While it may seem like news of such an affair would have ended up being a nothingburger amid the campaign’s final weeks, it’s worth remembering the specific context that Cohen and the Trump orbit faced in those finals hours of the campaign. They were performing a fraught and knife’s-edge balancing act to hold onto support from conservatives and evangelicals in the wake of the devastating Access Hollywood tape, a moment where vice presidential nominee Mike Pence seriously considered throwing in the towel himself. The follow-on of more non-family-values-friendly stories might well have begun an unrecoverable spiral. (It’s also worth remembering the still-suspicious interplay of these two threads: how, on a single Friday in October 2016, US intelligence leaders announced publicly for the first time that Russia was behind the election meddling, the Washington Post scooped the existence of the lewd Access Hollywood tape, and then, hours later, Wikileaks began dumping a fresh set of stolen emails from Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.)

It is the latest stunning barrier shattered by the nation’s most unruly president. A new national nightmare may be on the horizon after a tumultuous four-year term, and two historic impeachments, an election that was wrongly contaminated by Trump’s lies and a mob attack by his supporters on Congress.

We have been close before, but never this close, according to John Dean, the Watergate-era Special Counsel. No prior president has ever been indicted.

The move was especially stunning given Trump’s long record of impunity, which has seen him constantly stretch the limits of the law and the conventions of accepted behavior with his uproarious personal, business and political careers. Suddenly, Trump’s decades of evading accountability will end. The former president is expected to be charged with crimes after he travels to New York to face the charges in a high-profile case.

The ex-president made a bold move by showing he was ready to bring about a political crisis in the country. He accused Democrats of weaponizing justice to thwart his 2024 White House bid – a claim that threatens to shatter the credibility of the next election in the eyes of millions of his followers and further damage US democracy.

The block capitals on the Truth Social network were used by Trump to say this was an attack on our country. “It is likewise a continuing attack on our once free and fair elections. The USA is now a third world nation and is in serious decline. So sad!”

The 2016 Florida Governor’s Threat to Make America Great Again: What Will He Learn If He Gets His Penalty? The Crucial Role of Bragg in the 2016 Florida Witch Hunt

If there is plentiful proof that this is a simple sell to a jury, it makes sense that the case would unfold in the public eye. If Bragg doesn’t get a conviction, he will be accused even more than he already is in a politicized case that could bring about fundamental change in the country.

It will be difficult for him to say that the charges were politically motivated if he’s convicted. But you can imagine how Trump would boast of vindication if he’s acquitted. He did so even when the Mueller investigation didn’t exonerate him and after his second impeachment following Jan. 6 when a majority of senators – but not the two-thirds required for a conviction – found him guilty.

Trump blames Pence for failing to intervene in Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s election victory – a position that may limit the former vice president’s political ceiling in a party still filled with Trump loyalists.

The Florida governor’s threat was just one ill omen that suggests the months ahead will be divisive and dangerous to America’s democracy – whether Trump is found guilty or not.

“From the time I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower, and even before I was sworn in as your President of the United States, the Radical Left Democrats – the enemy of the hard-working men and women of this Country – have been engaged in a Witch-Hunt to destroy the Make America Great Again movement.”

The FBI searching his Florida home in February 2016 was one of the most dramatic incidents of his actions during the 2016 campaign, as well as three other criminal investigations stemming from his conduct.

By most accounts, the other three criminal investigations – two federal and one out of Georgia – put Trump in far more potential peril than the New York case. The stakes are high for Bragg, personally and politically, because he brought this case first.

Donald Trump and the Democratic Party: Trump indicted grand-jury new yorkers in the wake of the New York City Supermajority

When Trump took office, the GOP had unified control of power in Washington. The Republicans were in charge of both house and senate when Trump was in the White House.

The cost of the GOP in the 2020 congressional elections are still being debated but it is estimated that many Trump-backed candidates lost key races in swing states. Instead of making huge gains, Democrats expanded their majority in the Senate, which happened instead of the president’s party making big gains. Republicans took back the House, but it was a little tighter than they had anticipated.

Republicans have now lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. The Republican Party’s creation in the 19th Century was the worst streak for either party in their histories.

So even as Trump appears to be unifying this version of the Republican Party behind him through his claims of “witch hunts” and conspiracies, Americans more broadly have lined up against him – and the GOP – over and over these past several years.

That was evident this week in the latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll that found 6 in 10 don’t want Trump to be president again, including two-thirds of independents.

Republican strategists say that the only way that would change is if other Republicans start to paint Trump’s legal troubles as evidence of the chaos and drama in politics, and that would be the only chance for it to change.

There’s no indication that’s even a possibility. Both Trump’s lawyers and the New York district attorney’s office will agree on a time for Trump to be in court.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/31/1167273834/trump-indictment-grand-jury-new-york

The Integrity of the Investigating of the Donald J. Trump Organization and the Particle Activist, Stormy Daniels, and the Case for an Indictment

But DeSantis’ supportive tweet shows the hold Trump has on the GOP base. DeSantis has to walk a line in avoiding offending the very pro-Trump GOP base.

Wehle said that even if the charge doesn’t reach the heights some people would expect, it’s serious.

Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen negotiated a deal with porn star Stormy Daniels, paying her $130,000 in exchange for keeping quiet about an alleged affair with Trump.

NPR hasn’t been able to independently confirm whether Trump is still in Florida. Since the 757 flew to West Palm Beach, there has been no movement on his plane by two reliable flight trackers.

“I don’t want to be involved in a circus like the one created by some George Soros donors,” he said, according to an account from POLITICO. “He’s trying to do a political spectacle … In the state of Florida, I have real issues that I have to deal with.

The former president said in his statement that the grand jury’s vote to indict him was political persecution and election interference.

The Democrats had an issue with blind justice, best summed up by the phrase “no one is above the law”.

A nation of laws must hold rich and powerful people accountable even after they hold high office. “Especially when they do!” said Rep. Adam Schiff, a former impeachment manager.

Cohen said it’s better for the case to let the indictment speak for itself after the charges have been filed. I stand by my testimony and the evidence I have given to the New York district attorney.

The committees do not have jurisdiction to oversee their state prosecution, and CNN reports that they are acting like criminal defense Counsel trying to obtain evidence for a client instead of looking for a legitimate legislative objective.

According to the House GOP inquiries, approximately $5,000 was spent on expenses relating to the investigation of Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization. The letter says that there was no use of federal grant money for the Trump investigation.

No expenses incurred in relation to this matter have been paid from funds that the Office receives through federal grant programs, according to Dubeck.

We are willing to meet with you or your staff to find a way to accommodate your request without compromising the integrity of a criminal prosecution.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and the House Oversight Chairman: Is Donald Trump really talking about a political witch-Hunt?

The House Oversight Chairman attacked the political witch-Hunt of former President Donald Trump after he was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney.

“One thing that we’re concerned about in Washington, Congressman Jordan and myself, is if there is coordination being conducted here between Merrick Garland, DOJ and all these different entities that are going after Donald Trump,” Comer told Fox on Friday. They are trying to create a narrative that hurts Donald Trump and they are doing everything they can to do that.

“This is a politically-motivated prosecution by a far-left activist. If it was someone other than President Trump, a case like this wouldn’t be brought. Instead of ordering political hit jobs, New York prosecutors should focus on getting violent criminals off the streets,” he said.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is the focus of one of the key committees trying to investigate it, and according to CNN, she keeps in touch with Trump on their investigative priorities.