Nothingburger

 

I normally wait a day or two to let the dust settle before opining on current events.  This is long enough.

Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg yesterday indicted Donald Trump, 45th President of the United States, with 34 felony counts of falsifying records.  If you have not yet read the actual text of the indictment, I encourage you to do so now by clicking the provided link.  What you will find there (in case you don't want to take the time) is 34 nearly identical charges:

...with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of...

All of these 'crimes' are dated between February 14, 2017 and December 5, 2017 and refer to General Ledger entries for various vouchers and checks.  Nowhere in the indictment is there any reference to the '[]other crime' that is the predicate for the indictment.

A few days back, I quoted the 6th Amendment:

Amendment 6 - Right to Speedy Trial, Confrontation of Witnesses.

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.

I concentrated then on the 'compulsory process' provision — which is a serious problem for Alvin Bragg, since it allows Trump's lawyers even to subpoena the staff in Bragg's office and compel them to testify under oath and under threat of felony prosecution for perjury.  Ouchie!

This is much more serious now.  The indictment should have been quashed for not specifying the underlying crime that generated the 34 felony counts.  Which 'underlying crime'?  We're talking here about an alleged payment to Stormy Daniels for a NDA regarding an alleged affair with Donald Trump.  Bragg is indicting Trump for (we have to assume) not marking those transactions as 'Hush-money for Stormy Daniels NDA',  But, as Alan Dershowitz pointed out to Tucker Carlson last night, there has never been a (successful) prosecution for mischaracterising 'hush money' payments.  Why?  Because forcing people to state the true purpose of such a payment constitutes forcing them to self-incriminate, and the 5th Amendment prohibits governments at all levels, including NY State and NY City, from doing that.  To the extent that NYS law requires that, the law is prima facie unconstitutional.

Beyond that, that 'underlying crime' is only so because it would have interfered with the election of 2016.  But look at the dates: February 14, 2017 to December 5, 2017.  The election was over by then.  There could not have been any interference with an election that ended and was certified before any of the 'election interference' that Trump is charged with.

Conclusion: Alvin Bragg's career is about to end, and that's just one more thing we need to thank Donald Trump for.  How could Bragg be that stupid?  I've recently started wondering if Bragg is actually working undercover for Trump, his main task being to get Trump re-elected in 2024.  If that were true, what would Bragg be doing differently?