There is an opinion about what the Trump Indictment means for Ron DeSantis
The New Prepotential: When Donald Trump will be indicted for his crimes against the public interest and the judiciary in New York – an unprecedented moment for the republic
The indictment of a former president creates a perilous moment for the republic, as it is already driven to the brink by Donald Trump.
It is yet another barrier that has been shattered by the most unruly president. It means that after a crazy four-year term that included two impeachments, an election that was fraudulent, a mob attack by his supporters and much more, a new national nightmare may be ahead.
A grand jury in New York voted to indict former President Donald Trump on charges related to hush money payments made to allegedly cover up affairs Trump had, multiple sources close to Trump confirmed to NPR Thursday.
John Dean, the former President Richard Nixon’s Watergate-era special counsel, told CNN that they have been close before, but never at this point. No previous 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. A high-security spectacle will take place in New York when the former president is brought to court for his conduct, likely after he travels to there to be charged with inciting violence.
Trump insists that he is innocent of all allegations, including the special counsel investigations into his conduct around the 2020 election as well as the Georgia investigation into his attempt to steal the election.
The ex-president quickly showed he’s ready to drive the country into a deep political crisis as he mounts his defense with wild claims of persecution. 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.
“This is an attack on our country that has never been seen before,” Trump wrote in block capitals on his truth social network. It is an attack on our once free and fair elections. The USA is now a third world nation, a nation in serious decline. So sad!
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 perception of this extraordinary case will turn on two questions fundamental to the credibility of American justice: Are all citizens – even the most powerful, like former presidents and White House candidates – considered equal under the law? Is Trump being subjected to special treatment because of who he is?
Even if there is plentiful evidence that makes this a relatively simple sell to a jury, the fame and the power of the defendant means the case will unfold in a court of public opinion. The Manhattan District Attorney is at risk of being accused even more of building a politicized case if he does not get a conviction.
Bragg was lambasted even though he had not seen the evidence or charges against the former president. Trump had attempted to intimidate Bragg just over a week ago, when he made a prediction that he would be arrested early last week. The strategy was clearly designed to prejudice public opinion against the case before Trump even appears in court and to energize the former president’s grassroots supporters and the conservative media machine.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted, “The American people will not tolerate this injustice,” and added that “The House of Representatives will hold Alvin Bragg and his unprecedented abuse of power to account” – a comment that appeared to indicate a fresh attempt to use government power to interfere in an active case going through America’s independent legal system.
The No. 2 House Republican – Majority Leader Steve Scalise – called the indictment “one of the clearest examples of extremist Democrats weaponizing government to attack their political opponents.” Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House GOP conference chair, released a statement saying the indictment was “a political witch hunt” and a “dark day for America.” Senate Republican LeaderMitch McConnell did not respond immediately despite the fact that the GOP is divided over Trump’s past assault on American democracy and political aspiration.
It is too early to predict how voters, in the GOP primary or in the national electorate, will respond to Trump’s indictment. It is not certain where the multiple investigations into Trump’s conduct will be by the time of the election in 2024, or whether a trial will take place before that.
The vice president is blamed by Trump for failing to intervene in the certification of the election of Joe Biden, as a position that may limit his political ceiling in a party filled with Trump loyalists.
That assumption informs some of the reactions to the Trump indictment and the immediate rally effect that it produced among Republicans, with the former president’s (presumptive) leading challenger, Ron DeSantis, not only condemning prosecutorial overreach but promising some kind of Floridian sanctuary should Trump choose to become a fugitive from New York justice.
The Florida governor said his state would not help with the capture and conviction of the former president if it came to that.
“The weaponization of the legal system to advance a political agenda turns the rule of law on its head. It is not American. The law has been bent by the Manhattan District Attorney to excuse crimes. He is broadening the law to target a political opponent.
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.
The Trump GOP machine went right to work, rolling out a political tactic intended to keep the former president out of his way. While Trump has gained the support of the Republicans, his brand has become toxic to a lot of Americans.
“This is political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history,” Trump said in a statement. He added that it was “an act of blatant Election Interference” that would “backfire” on Democrats, and he attacked the New York district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who brought the charges.
The indictment of Trump was not the result of something that a prosecutor or judge did. A grand jury is asked to decide whether to prosecute a suspect in a crime. They did that.
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 successfully with his base of supporters that the left has it out for him, and that this indictment and investigation in New York are nothing more than a politically motivated attempt to derail his campaign.
The Radical Left Democrats have been scheming to destroy the people of the United States, even before I came down the golden escalator at Trump Tower.
It’s all right off of the biggest hits that were heard in the 2016 election, such as the Russia investigation, two impeachments, the FBI search of his Florida home, and other criminal investigations stemming from his conduct.
A new NPR/PBS News Hour/Marist poll shows that 70% of people think the criminal investigations against him are fair while 81% of Republicans agree with him and think the investigations are a witch hunt.
A new survey shows that a majority of people think the New York charges are not that serious and 6 in 10 agree that the investigation is politically motivated.
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, as he brought this case first.
What the GOP Can Do About Donald Trump’s Greatest Successes: The Failure of the First Five-Year Interaction Between the House and the Senate
When Trump took office, the GOP had unified control of power in Washington. Republicans were in charge of both the House and the Senate, while Trump was in the White House.
The GOP lost key races inswing states and competitive districts in the fall of 2022, as a result of Trump-backed candidates. The Democrats expanded their majority in the Senate instead of making gains, which is usually the case for the president’s party. Republicans took the House more in line with their expectations.
In seven of the last eight presidential elections Republicans have lost the popular vote. That’s the worst streak for either party in their histories since the Republican Party’s creation in the 19th Century.
The latest NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll found that most people don’t want Trump to be president again.
Republican strategists say that the only way it can change is if others in the Republican Party paint Trump’s legal troubles as a symptom of the chaos and drama of the campaign, and if he only gets a four-year term.
There’s no indication that’s even a possibility. The lawyers for the New York District Attorney’s office will probably agree on an arraignment date for Trump either in person or virtually.
Trump Indictment Charges Key Take Aways Against DeSantis: A Comment on “President Donald Trump’s Outburst on the GOP Base”
But DeSantis’ supportive tweet shows the hold Trump has on the GOP base. DeSantis has to walk a line not to offend the very pro-Trump GOP base, while Trump blasts DeSantis’ record and personal characteristics daily.
NPR has not been able to confirm reports that Trump may be arrested on Tuesday, as the grand jury indictment and charges remain under seal.
Kim Wehle, a former US attorney and a law professor at the University of Baltimore, believes that Trump will be charged with a violation of New York’s penal code.
Even if the charge doesn’t reach the highs that some people would expect from a former president, it’s serious, according to Wehle.
Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 in exchange for keeping her allegation of an affair with Trump away from the public.
Cohen transferred that money to Daniels less than two weeks before the election. And then after Trump won, Trump reimbursed Cohen, including with his own personal checks. He has admitted to reimbursing Cohen for the money paid to her, although he denies having an affair with her.
The Trump Organization said that those reimbursement payments were for legal fees, which is not true. In New York, that’s a felony if it was done to cover up another crime — in this case, probably the violation of campaign finance laws, Wehle says.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/31/1167281449/trump-indictment-charges-key-takeaways
The Exclusion of Donald J. Jordan, a Democratic High-Centric Man, from the Florida Air and Space Programs, and a Comment on Trump’s Indictment
NPR hasn’t been able to independently confirm whether Trump is still in Florida. Since the 757 flew to West Palm Beach five days ago, two reliable flight watchers haven’t registered any movement on his plane.
According to an account from POLITICO, he said he had no interest in being involved in a circus made out of George Sosnow’s campaign donations. He is trying to do a political spectacle. I’ve got real issues I’ve got to deal with here in the state of Florida.”
The former president said that the grand jury’s vote to indict him was political persecution and election interference.
Earlier this month, Jordan, along with House Oversight Committee Chair Jim Comer, R-Ky., and House Administration Committee Chair Bryan Steil, R-Wis., sent Bragg a letter demanding documents, communications and testimony related to his investigation of the former president.
Democrats had a message of their own, which was one of need for blind justice, and it was summed up in their slogan “no one is above the law.”
“A nation of laws must hold the rich and powerful accountable, even when they hold high office. Especially when they do,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a former impeachment manager.
Cohen, a key witness in the case, said that the indictment shows that nobody is above the law, but he also asked for an opinion on the matter.
The potential 2024 Republican primary field quickly coalesced on Thursday around a strategy for responding to former President Donald Trump’s indictment: Attack Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the prosecutor, but stop short of praising Trump.
How Republicans fought against Donald Trump in 2016: Why the Manhattan grand jury indictment wasn’t a matter of justice for an attorney general in New York
“But when you have an attorney general in New York, a Manhattan DA, that targeted one particular American in their campaigns, I think that offends the notion of the overwhelming majority of the American people who believe in fairness, who believe in equal treatment before the law,” he told Blitzer in an interview Thursday evening.
There is a presumption among a certain kind of analyst — rooted, I presume, in a deeply buried belief in the vengeance of Almighty God — that because Republicans morally deserve Donald Trump they will be stuck with him no matter what. As they cast in their lots with the False Orange Messiah, they will be condemned to halt at the edge of a post Trump promised land due to their refusal to take a righteous stand against him.
Bush was the governor of Florida. Bush defended Trump, calling the Manhattan grand jury indictment a “politick” and not a matter of justice.
“(Manhattan District Attorney Alvin) Bragg’s predecessor didn’t take up the case. Bush was one of the top 2016 presidential rivals.
Bush called for a Republican to challenge Trump in his bid for reelection in 2020. During the Republican primary in 2016 Trump berated Bush multiple times before he suspended his campaign. The former governor said that he wouldn’t vote for Trump.
Youngkin, Murkowski and the Donald Trump Indictment: Do We Really Need a Prosecutor to Deal With Divisive Public Narratives?
In his remarks Friday, Youngkin pivoted to a call for the US to “put this kind of politics down,” and said he is more concerned with helping Virginia residents than commenting further on divisive national narratives.
Murkowski warned against haste to judgement on the Trump indictment before she heard the evidence.
I am keeping an eye on Donald Trump’s legal situation. Everyone in this country deserves a fair legal process and no one is above the law. The indictment of a former President is unprecedented and needs to be handled with the highest degree of integrity and scrutiny. “Instead of rushing to individual judgment, we must also evaluate the evidence as it becomes available and use it to inform our opinions and statements about what is actually happening.”
“It’s the archetypal abuse of the prosecutorial function,” Barr said at the National Review Institute summit held in Washington, DC. “It’s a disgrace if it turns out what we think it is.”
Barr believed that it would be politically damaging to the Republican Party. He called it a “no-lose situation” for Democrats, allowing them to focus the run-up to the 2024 election on Trump, either handing him the nomination or leaving the eventual nominee with another scandal to deal with.
