The Trump Witch-Hunt Will Backfire Massively on Joe Biden – a Reply to the New York City Democrat’s D.A.Vance
The second reason the indictment is important comes down to politics, and on this front there is a distinct possibility that Trump not only survives but also thrives. Even if the case does not go his way, Trump still has an instinct for using danger to his advantage and has built his political career on punching back against the people and institutions he claims are unfairly attacking him.
But then-Manhattan District Attorney Vance’s team had already picked up the investigation into the hush money payments and begun looking at potential state law violations. They sent subpoenas to the Trump Organization, other witnesses, and met with Cohen while he was in prison.
When Cohen was charged by federal prosecutors in New York in 2018 and pleaded guilty, he said he was acting at the direction of Trump when he made the payment.
Most of the legal trouble that Trump has faced since entering politics has been because he has skirted the law and betrayed the country in his drive to keep power. The investigation showed that the campaign received Russian help in his first bid for president, but did not prove that he engaged in a criminal conspiracy. Trump’s first impeachment, in 2019, was about his attempt to extort President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine into manufacturing dirt on Joe Biden, the rival he most feared.
Trump and his attorneys, thinking Bragg might be reconsidering a potential indictment, were all caught off-guard, sources said. Some of Trump’s advisers had even left Palm Beach on Wednesday following news reports that the grand jury was taking a break, the sources added.
The former president has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the matter and continued his attacks on Bragg and other Democrats following news of the indictment.
“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden,” the former president said in a statement Thursday. The American people know what the radical left democrats are doing. Everyone can see it. Our Party will defeat Joe Biden, and we will then throw out all the remaining Democrats in office so we can make America great again.
The FBI Investigates the Associated Crimes of the Ex-President Robbie Bragg: An Analysis of Trump’s 2024 White House Campaign
The former president was supposed to surrender Friday in New York, but his lawyer said there was more time needed and he was expected in court on Tuesday.
In some ways, the former president’s court appearance will look similar to that of any other defendants, but in others, it looks very different.
Public hearings are where the first appearances are held. If an arrest of a defendant is not needed, arrangements are made with them or their lawyers for a voluntary surrender to law enforcement. Criminals are booked and finger-printed at their first court appearance. And if a first appearance is also an arraignment, a plea is expected to be entered.
That alone makes it historic. But Trump is currently a few months into his third White House bid, and his criminal case jolts the 2024 presidential campaign into a new phase, as the former president has vowed to keep running in the face of criminal charges.
Donald Trump is expected to be the Republican nominee for president, said Rep. Mike Johnson, who was a member of House Republican leadership.
“Outrageous,” tweeted House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the Republican committee chairmen who has demanded Bragg testify before Congress about the Trump investigation.
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, called the indictment “completely unprecedented” and said it is “a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system.”
Sources close to Trump say that the president will be rolling out surrogates to hit Democrats as he works to shape the public narrative after the indictment.
In the second week of March, prosecutors invited Trump to appear before a grand jury, which is a sign the investigation is nearing an end.
Donald Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels, a CNN lecturer, and the president’s challenge to running for reelection
“It’s quite serious, even if the charge doesn’t reach the heights that some people would expect from a former president,” Wehle told Adrian in an interview.
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. Two reliable flight trackers have not registered movement on his private plane since the 757 flew to West Palm Beach five days ago.
The governor of Florida went after the Manhattan district attorney who was supported by George Soros, a billionaire who has been associated with conservative conspiracy theories.
A threat to Trump’s bid for reelection is what is considered to be a top 2020 Republican presidential contender, though he has yet to announce his candidacy.
“I have no interest in getting involved in some type of manufactured circus by some Soros DA,” he said, according to an account from POLITICO, making a reference to billionaire donor George Soros’ campaign donations. “He’s 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 dismissed the Manhattan grand jury’s vote to indict him as “political persecution” and “election interference,” in a statement on Thursday.
“The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to ‘Get Trump,’ but now they’ve done the unthinkable — indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference,” the statement from his website reads.
Kevin McCarthy said that Bragg has damaged the country in an attempt to interfere with the election. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called the probe a “blatant abuse of power from a DA focused on political vengeance.”
A New Grand Jury Investigation Into the Business and Affairs of John Doe: Adam Schiff, L.A., P.C., April 6, 2020
The Democrats spoke of need for blind justice and made the phrase “no one is above the law” one of their slogans.
Even though they hold the highest office, the rich and powerful should be held accountable by the nation’s laws. Especially when they do,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a former impeachment manager.
The charges have been filed and it is better for the case to speak for itself, Cohen said. I stand by my testimony and the evidence I provided to the district attorney in New York.
Trump faces scrutiny in other investigations that could potentially lead to charges of their own, so it’s worth remembering that as the news cycle progresses.
For nearly five years, confidential records have identified a continuing grand jury inquiry in Manhattan as “Investigation Into the Business and Affairs of John Doe.”
The federal prosecutors charged Mr. Cohen so quickly that they asked the district attorneys to put their investigation on hold for a year.
The lawsuit took nearly 18 months, ultimately reaching the U.S. Supreme Court, which twice ruled in Mr. Vance’s favor. By the time prosecutors obtained Mr. Trump’s tax returns in March of 2021, they had expanded the investigation beyond his business practices.
At that point, the investigation was focused on Trump’s financial statements and whether he knowingly misled lenders, insurers, and others by providing them false or misleading information about the value of his properties.
A new grand jury was formed to hear evidence about Mr. Trump. The prosecutors decided to call witnesses instead of focusing on his financial statements. The long-running investigation had come full circle.
The new district attorney had concerns about whether he could prove that Mr. Trump was intending to cheat the insurance companies and banks who received his statements. He soon decided not to seek an indictment of Mr. Trump, prompting Mr. Pomerantz and Mr. Dunne to resign in protest.
Trump is under criminal investigation in Georgia and Washington, D.C., for his attempts to subvert the outcome in the 2020 race. Each time he had failed to face consequences for breaking rules, he went to the point of attempting a coup. He was acquitted in his second impeachment, but he still treated Jan. 6 as a hero at his most recent campaign rally.
The verdict on Nixon’s 1974 Indictment of Gerald Ford: Implications for State and State Propagation in the Era of Deep Inequality
Editor’s Note: Julian Zelizer, a CNN political analyst, is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author and editor of 25 books, including the New York Times best-seller, “Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Lies and Legends About Our Past” (Basic Books). His bio says he is on the @julianzelizer account. His views are not reflected in this commentary. View more opinion on CNN.
As the nation awaits the details of the charges — with questions swirling about his scheduled arraignment on Tuesday — the implications of the decision are starting to sink in.
The first element of the indictment has to do with accountability. September 8, 1974 was a turning point in American politics. Gerald Ford pardoned Nixon for any crimes he may have committed while in office after the president announced his resignation.
During the depths of the Vietnam war, the US was grappling with crisis as a result of which Ford issued the pardon to heal the nation. But Ford’s strategy didn’t work. The pardon helped cause suspicions of corruption instead of healing the nation.
By avoiding the attempt to hold Nixon accountable, Ford circumvented the judicial process, and the nation never tested what could be done about presidents or former presidents who were accused of violating the law.
This issue came up again with President Bill Clinton. In 1997, Clinton v. Jones, the Supreme Court concluded that sitting presidents are not immune from civil law suits arising from events that occurred before they took office. In 1998, the House impeached him for perjury and obstruction of justice over his response to an affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, but the Senate rejected both charges. After his presidency ended, Clinton made a deal with a special prosecutor to avoid prosecution after he made a series of false statements about the affair.
We were unsure if it was possible to hold a president responsible after he left the White House. The question was concerned with the will of prosecutors and juries.
Regardless, Trump understands how to weaponize moments of danger to his advantage, and we’ve already seen Republicans rally to his side, as they did during both impeachments. Former Vice President Mike Pence called the indictment an “outrage,” while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, potentially Trump’s biggest rival in 2024, publicly stated that the prosecution’s action was “un-American.”
They have reversed some of the damage that occurred when Ford refused to allow the legal process to play out with a former president who engaged in immense wrongdoing and abused his power. And if the nation fails to continue the long process of reestablishing the important standard of accountability, we will be perpetually trapped by the perils of an imperial presidency that holds commanders-in-chief to a different legal standard than all other Americans.
Attacking the Manhattan District Attorney, but do not praise him: The strategy for responding to the Trump indictment and the 2020 GOP primary field
The potential 2020 Republican primary field quickly coalesced around a strategy for responding to the indictment of former President Donald Trump: Attack Manhattan District Attorney, but do not praise him.
This prosecution is politically motivated by a far left activist. If it was anyone other than President Trump, a case like this would never be brought. He said that New York prosecutors should concentrate on getting violent criminals off the streets.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, for years one of Trump’s most ardent defenders before offering some measured criticism after the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol, called the indictment of his former boss “an outrage” and suggested that Bragg was politically motivated.
When the attorney general of New York targeted one American, I think that offends the belief of the vast majority of Americans that they are treated equally under the law.
The House Oversight Chairman attacked the ” political witch-hunt” of former President Donald Trump the day he was indicted by the Manhattan District Attorney.
It’s one thing for Congressman Jordan and I to be concerned about in Washington if there is coordination being conducted here between the DOJ and Donald Trump. “This is a political witch-hunt, they are doing everything in their ability to create a narrative that would hurt Donald Trump.”
Greene serves on the House Oversight Committee, one of the key committees trying to investigate the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, and told CNN she regularly keeps Trump up to date on their investigative priorities.
Sen. John Cornyn, a member of Senate GOP leadership, told CNN the Trump indictment “looks to me like this is an opportunity for this [district attorney] to try to make headlines and gain publicity.”
Moore was asked if he would consider re-evaluating after seeing the evidence. But I’m in the garbage business, you know, and so a lot of times, I know how to spot a pile of garbage, and this thing looks like a pile of garbage.”
He predicted that the indictment could actually help Trump’s presidential chances. Moore himself was indicted and eventually found not guilty on perjury charges in 2014, when he was a member of the Alabama State House.
He said that after he was indicted, they had more people knocking at their doors. “… The people saw what it was and we did. I think the American people see this for what it is.”
An interview with Bragg after the Grand Jury ruling out a “catch and kill” investigation of the 2021 presidential affair with the president
They waited. The next day the grand jury was scheduled to meet, jurors were told not to come in. Bragg and his prosecutors spent the week and over the weekend coming up with a strategy that would fight the grand jury testimony.
They called two more people. David Pecker, the former head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, appeared on Monday. The other witness, who has still not been identified, testified on Thursday for 35 minutes in front of the grand jury – just before prosecutors asked them to vote on the indictment of more than 30 counts, the sources said.
After the indictment, Trump ate dinner with his wife, Melania, Thursday evening and smiled while he greeted guests at his Mar-a-Lago club, according to a source familiar with the event.
Cohen also helped arrange a $150,000 payment from the publisher of the National Enquirer to Karen McDougal to kill her story claiming a 10-month affair with Trump. Trump denies an affair with McDougal. The district attorney’s office wanted to know if there was a “catch and kill” deal with McDougal.
At the time, federal prosecutors had determined they could not seek to indict Trump in the scheme because of US Justice Department regulations against charging a sitting president. In the year 2021, the prosecutors in New York decided not to pursue a case against Trump according to a recent book.
Weisselberg was sentenced to five months at Rikers Island after he pleaded guilty to the charges. Prosecutors had hoped to flip Weisselberg to cooperate against Trump, but he would not tie Trump to any wrongdoing.
Disagreements about the pace of the investigation had caused at least three career prosecutors to move off the investigation. They were concerned that the investigation was moving too quickly, without clear evidence to support possible charges, CNN and others reported last year.
Bragg, a Democrat, took office in January 2022. Less than two months into his tenure, two top prosecutors who had worked on the Trump case under Vance abruptly resigned amid a disagreement in the office over the strength of the case against Trump.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/01/politics/trump-bragg-inside-indictment/index.html
Inside-Indictment Investigation Into the Bragg Organization. Investigation of the Donald Trump Embedding and Hush Money Payout Cases
In the letter, Pomerantz wrote that he and others believed that your decision not to prosecute Mr. Trump would doom his future prospects.
Prosecutors were building a wide-ranging falsified business records case to include years of financial statements and the hush money payments, people with direct knowledge of the investigation told CNN. But at the time, those prosecutors believed there was a good chance a felony charge related to the hush money payment would be dismissed by a judge because it was a novel legal theory.
We are following the leads that come to us. That is what we are doing, according to Bragg. The investigation is ongoing.
At the same time that Bragg’s criminal investigation into Trump lingered last year, another prosecution against the Trump Org. moved forward. In December, there were two Trump Organization. entities were convicted at trial on 17 counts and were ordered to pay $1.6 million, the maximum penalty, the following month.
Cohen was brought back in to meet with Manhattan prosecutors. Cohen had previously met with prosecutors in the office 13 times. But the January meeting was the first in more than a year – and a clear sign of the direction prosecutors were taking.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/01/politics/trump-bragg-inside-indictment/index.html
Pomerantz had no idea what he had to say about the Daniels-Bragg case, but he didn’t say anything
Pomerantz can’t speak about what went through Bragg’s mind. I can think of a lot of things that led him to have doubts about the strength of the case.
During a meeting with prosecutors in New York, Susan Necheles told CNN that they didn’t articulate the specifics of the charges they were considering.
Trump used his social media to forecast his indictment. Trump made a post attacking Bragg on March 18 saying that the leading Republican candidate and former president will be arrested next week.
Trump’s call for protests after a potential indictment led to meetings between senior staff members from the district attorney’s office, the New York Police Department and the New York State Court Officers – who provide security at the criminal court building in lower Manhattan.
During the void, Trump continued to launch verbal insults against Bragg, calling him a “degenerate psychopath.” And four Republican chairmen of the most powerful House committees wrote to Bragg asking him to testify, which Bragg’s office said was unprecedented interference in a local investigation. The building where the grand jury meets received an envelope that contained a white powder and had a death threat against Bragg.
When the grand jury was not ready to meet again until Monday, March 27th, Pecker was brought back into the jury room in a government vehicle with tinted windows in hopes of avoiding detection by the media camped outside.
Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump’s who had a history of orchestrating so-called “catch and kill” deals while at the National Enquirer, was involved with the Daniels’ deal from the beginning.