Trump’s Anticlimactic Arraignment is an opinion

New York Business Corrupted in 2016: How a New President Orchestrated a Wide-Scale Political Campaign to Illuminate the 2016 Presidential Election

The felony charges that Mr. Trump pleaded not guilty to turned out to be more significant and wide-ranging than previously thought. The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, described a broad conspiracy, with Mr. Trump at the center, to falsify business records for the purpose of unlawfully influencing the 2016 presidential election. The former president, he said, “orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the defendant’s electoral prospects.”

34 counts of misrepresenting business records with intent to commit another crime and aid and concealed the commission of the crime were added to the indictment. The lowest level of felony in the state of New York is Class E felony.

Prosecutors say that the Trump Organization processed each check as a monthly payment for legal services. “In truth, there was no retainer agreement,” reads a statement of fact that accompanied the charges.

Bragg said in a press release that Manhattan is the country’s most significant business market. “New York businesses cannot manipulate their records to cover up criminal behavior.”

Prosecutors cited three occasions in which they say Trump “orchestrated” such a scheme with executives at American Media Inc., the company that publishes the National Enquirer. All three took place after Trump announced his candidacy for president in June of 2015.

The first instance was when a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to have a story about a child with the President was paid $30,000 by the company.

After the magazine decided the story was not true, executives made an agreement not to release the doorman until after the election, prosecutors say.

The second instance occurred in June of 2016 when the ex- Playboy centerfold claimed that she had an affair with Trump while he was married. Prosecutors say that Trump, Cohen and the CEO of the media company discussed who would pay forDougal’s silence.

Trump went on to group the indictment — stemming from a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign — with various other legal and political threats he’s faced, dismissing them all.

Trump’s behavior detailed in court documents and in a previous case involving Cohen was certainly sleazy. But some legal analysts pointed out that Bragg’s legal roadmap could open the way to robust pre-trial motions by Trump’s attorneys.

Bragg said that New York state election law makes it a crime to campaign with the intent of promoting a candidacy. In this case, that “could include” false statements, like the misrepresentation to tax authorities of the payments to Michael Cohen.

Trump, who was twice impeached as president and still secured a record-breaking number of electoral votes, tried to capitalize on the narrative potential of his day in court.

He departed the courthouse in a motorcade that major cable news networks tracked with helicopter footage. His 2024 election campaign began offering a T-shirt with a fake mug shot for a $47 donation.

At the end of a busy day, Trump took the stage at his Mar-a-Lago resort to call the charges against him a political persecution.

“I did not expect this to happen in America,” said Trump before his speech. “The only crime I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it.”

In remarks that lasted just around 25 minutes, Trump dismissed the other investigations he’s facing, said DA Bragg had “no case” and attacked Judge Juan Merchan and his family as “Trump-hating” people.

The New York District Attorney’s Office Investigation of a Prosecutive Snowball-Payment Scheme involving Stormy Daniels

Despite being on high alert, Manhattan only saw small Trump supporters gather near the courthouse, with reporters outnumbering the protestors.

But Trump’s supporters are clearly showing him support in other ways. His campaign raised $10 million in the wake of the indictment, according to his adviser.

The sense that the Bragg indictment could rebound against the district attorney and benefit Trump politically was captured by some Republicans who do not support the former president – like former Trump national security adviser John Bolton in an appearance on CNN. Another Trump critic, Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, also criticized the case.

Two-thirds of respondents think that the charges in New York are not that serious, according to a poll released Wednesday. Six in 10 say the investigation is politically motivated.

Merchan set the next major court date as Dec. 4. The prosecution is pushing for opening arguments to begin in the new year, but Trump’s defense wants a few more months. That’s right in the heart of primary season, which could complicate the former president’s reelection bid.

The defense may try to file motions to delay the case, including moving the venue out of Manhattan, where voters overwhelmingly voted against Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Legal experts expected the Manhattan DA case to be “potentially the weakest” of the investigations, reports NPR’s Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson.

On the Justice Department investigation, overseen by Special Counsel Jack Smith, Trump said that he was suspicious of what it was before a change.

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has been investigating former president Donald Trump in connection with his alleged role in a hush money payment scheme and cover-up involving adult film star Stormy Daniels that dates to the 2016 presidential election.

As I’ve argued before, if Trump’s role in the hush-money payments broke the law, it’s a serious matter, because those payments helped him get elected, and the plot to cover them up sent his former lawyer to prison. Trump, the statement of facts says, “orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the defendant’s electoral prospects.” If this is true, then it is perverse to suggest that Trump should not be prosecuted for this crime because he won the presidency.

The day that the ex-president turned himself in: It doesn’t need an indictment for his depravity, but it does

The second factor was that Trump would go through with his angry response so as to rip even deeper divides in a nation that is estranged by his presidency and cause further damage to vital political and judicial institutions.

Both of those worst-of-all-worlds scenarios came true on a day that Trump described as “SURREAL” in a social media post sent as he motorcaded to court to turn himself in. There is still no end to the repercussions of Trump’s single term as he girds for yet another election that could prove to be even worse.

The day that the ex-president was going to be placed under arrest began when he left his skyscraper home in the city, where he found fame as a real estate shark and tabloid-filling celebrity.

Trump walked through the door and was taken to a place of safety. News photographs of the once-most-powerful man in the world – with a face like thunder, seated at a table with lawyers like any other defendant – reflected his moment of stunning indignity.

Trump kept silent in court, saying little other than “not guilty,” and he didn’t speak to reporters after the hearing. When Trump moved the courtroom to friendly turf under the crystal chandeliers in his resort in Florida, he was ready to erupt.

“Our country’s gone to Hell,” he declared, in a rambling tirade bursting with conspiracy theories that also expanded into an angry rant against prosecutors in other, potentially more serious investigations than the one in Manhattan.

Nevertheless, for all the hype going into Tuesday, the indictment feels anticlimactic. “True and accurate business records are important everywhere, to be sure,” said Bragg in his news conference after the arraignment. “They are all the more important in Manhattan, the financial center of the world.” Trump, like everyone else, should be held accountable if he failed to keep such records. We don’t need an indictment for his depravity. These are hard charges to be excited about.

Given that the next hearing in the Manhattan case is on December 4, and the other cases appear to address more grave constitutional questions, it’s possible that Tuesday’s events could well be overtaken. It will always be remembered that a former president is charged with a crime, but it may turn out to be the beginning of an ominous process for Trump more than a historic culmination.

Bragg’s case is all about the premise that no one, not even an ex-president with his sights on the White House, should be above the law. The district attorney’s critics worry that another principle might be at play, if someone famous, rich and powerful is being prosecuted while a less famous person is let go.

According to the charging documents, Michael Cohen and Donald Trump made payments to both Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. Hush money payouts are not illegal. But Bragg, a Democrat, alleges that Trump falsified business records to hide the payments. Most of the times, transgressions like that would be mere misdemeanors. But Bragg suggested that a felony can be charged if the books were cooked to hide evidence of criminal conduct connected to the 2016 campaign.

The Bragg indictment had not been more specific on the leap required to charge Trump with a felony, according to Andrew McCabe, the FBI’s former deputy director.

Everyone was hoping to see more about the direction of the prosecution, what is the legal theory that ties that very solid case to the intent to hide another crime? “I said so.” McCabe said.

“At the end of the day, if all of our legal friends read this indictment and don’t see a way to a felony, it’s hard to imagine convincing a jury that they should get there.”

“We cannot and will not normalize serious criminal conduct,” he said at a news conference after Trump appeared in court. He said such cases were part of his office’s work and were the bread and butter.

There are many allegations in this case, which are similar to many of our white collar cases. Allegations that someone lied again, and again, to protect their interests and evade the laws to which we are all held accountable,” Bragg said.

The legal case will likely play out in court. It will also have an important political impact on Trump, who is attempting to return to the White House in four years.

President Trump has character and conduct that makes him not fit for office. Even so, I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda,” Romney said.

Like any American in his position, Trump should have the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Unlike many other defendants, he can have every legal resource at his disposal and try to mount an attempt to dismiss the case before it reaches a possible trial.

It was not one of Mr. Trump’s more compelling speeches. While friendly, the Mar-a-Lago crowd wasn’t like the kind of roaring mass of fans who Mr. Trump draws energy from. Even so, the address was impressively offensive in its attacks on the justice system in general and the individuals leading the investigations of Mr. Trump in particular — as well as their families. (Seriously, what was with all the wife bashing?) He criticized the officials who were going to get him. He went on a bizarre riff about how President Biden had hidden a bunch of documents in Chinatown. Jack Smith is the special counsel in charge of federal investigations of Mr. Trump, and his attacks suggest that the former president’s business interests are hurting him.

“They can’t beat us at the ballot box so they try and beat us through the law,” he claimed in a speech in which he also alleged the judge in the Manhattan case and his wife were “Trump hating.” The ex-president’s logic was often difficult to follow and he shouted certain words for emphasis in a way that expressed his fury. But while rambling, Trump opened another window into one of the most sinister aspects of the invective reminiscent of his “American carnage” inaugural speech.

He is following in the footsteps of some of the world’s most notorious demagogues, by trying to destroy trust in institutions that try to control his behavior, and by blaming political persecution for his actions. Trump has convinced millions of his supporters, that the election was corrupt, while demonstrating his talent for propaganda.

Some political pundits believe that Trump will benefit from his indictment in the short term. His campaign has claimed that they have raised funds since the jury voted to indict him. The only thing they have to do is to criticize Bragg if they want to avoid alienating Trump’s base.

But months ahead of the GOP primary, it’s impossible to know how Tuesday’s events will play out. Past evidence suggests that the more extreme Trump gets, the more popular he becomes with base voters.

The former president’s political lessons from the past have been less favorable. The extremism that he displayed on Tuesday night to a primetime television audience was exactly the brand of radicalism that contributed to disappointing Republican finishes in the 2020 election and the 2022 midterms.

A lack of excitement is what I have seen in New York over the last two days. Many who detest Trump, I suspect, have lost faith in the ability of the legal system to hold him to account. And while his supporters may threaten civil war, not many of them seem willing to brave Manhattan, which they’ve been told is a crime-ridden hellhole.

This uncomfortable reality is something for every member of G.O.P. to think about. Again. Because, if Mr. Trump’s prime-time, post-arraignment remarks on Tuesday were any indication, this is going to be a central theme of his third presidential run — one that promises to relegate everyone else in the party, including those considering a 2024 run themselves, to being minor players in this latest, tawdriest season of “The Trump Show.”

Get ready for more of this magic. These investigations are going to eat at him as his legal troubles escalate, and distract him. A hefty chunk of his campaign is likely to be a whine about his death, which will cause other Republicans in the same position to have to defend him. They will not have a choice as he gets his faithful to get involved in a frenzy over his persecution.

That is certainly what we have seen happening. Republicans have been attacking the Manhattan district attorney. Lauren Boebert pointed out that Mr. Trump’s indictment was similar to that of Mussolini and Hitler. One might have expected more from the Gov. who was thought to be the biggest threat to Mr. Trump. The man is weak, Ron. Very weak.

Mr. Bragg said he would cite other state laws. The prosecution said that Mr. Cohen was reimbursed by Mr. Trump in a fraudulent way. The charging document said that the reimbursement was illegal because it was disguises as income to make it look like payments were made further into the scheme. State tax violations are added to the list.

Trump said that the Atlanta District Attorney’s case was “more perfect than the phone call I had with the president of Ukraine” and that she was doing everything she could to indict him.

Trump said that James wanted to get him and was campaigning on ‘I will get Trump.’ I will get him. This was her campaign. I did not run for office. I will get him. Her name is Letitia James,” he said.

Toward the end of his speech, Trump criticized the Manhattan District Attorney for the charges against him.