I hate to rain on the parade, but Trump’s indictment — even felony conviction — will not bar Trump from holding office. While I’ve reported on Trump as a one-man crime wave, the cold truth is, if convicted, it will be his first offense for low-level felony — so forget jail time.
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Other problems with New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case…
The prosecutor has to prove that Trump INTENDED to hush up his affair to save his election — as opposed to saving him from the Wrath of Melania.
This is nearly identical to the case of ex-Sen. John Edwards [D-NC] who paid off the girlfriend he got pregnant during his run for President and for Vice-President (as John Kerry’s running mate). The jury didn’t buy the line that hush money was a hidden campaign contribution. The case was then dropped.
And let’s not sugar-coat the problems for prosecutors in Manhattan. Their two key witnesses are creeps: Michael Cohen, a convicted felon knuckle-breaker for Trump, and Stormy Daniels, a woman who blackmailed Trump into paying hush money. (On the other hand, Cohen and Daniels come off as sincere and contrite about their affairs with The Donald.)
A similar problem arises with the case in Georgia, which will soon go to a new grand jury. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will have to PROVE that Trump KNEW he’d lost the election and KNEW that he was committing a crime by promoting a bogus slate of Electors to the Electoral College.
When Trump said to the Sec. of State of Georgia, “find 11,780 votes,” it was preceded by Trump’s crazy-town claims about illegal voters. Trump’s lawyers will argue, in the UNLIKELY case he’s indicted, that Agent Orange was relying on a legal memo by professor of law John Eastman. They’ll also claim that Trump truly believed the goofy BS about stuffed ballot boxes and illegal voters from grifter groups like True the Vote.
Sorry to give you the bad news about the prosecutions. But that’s why they call it LAW school and not JUSTICE school.
Greg Palast (Rolling Stone, Guardian, BBC) is the author of The New York Times bestsellers, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and the book and documentary,
The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.
His latest film is Vigilante: Georgia's Vote Suppression Hitman
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Dennis J. Bernstein is the executive producer and host of Flashpoints, an award winning front-line investigative news magazine focusing on human, civil and workers' rights, issues of war and peace, global warming, racism and poverty, and other issues. Flashpoints is broadcast weekdays at 5 PM PST on the Pacifica Radio station KPFA-FM (94.1) in Berkeley, California and is relayed on Pacifica's national feed.
