LOS ANGELES.–Finding 12 jurors and six alternates wasn’t easy in liberal New York City, where 77-year-old former President Donald Trump stands for trial of a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, 50, claims that Trump violated election laws buying silence from a whistleblower trying to educate the public about the 2016 presidential election. Bragg’s legal theory is full of holes, something Trump’s attorneys will expose at trial, arguing simply that Trump wanted to spare his wife and family from any embarrassment from a publicity-seeking adult film star. Why would Stormy Daniels extort Trump for $130,000 before the election unless she had a plan to blackmail the former president? Bragg acts like Stormy Daniels and his star witness disgraced, disbarred, convicted felon Atty. Michael Cohen have credibility.
Finding the jury only adds to the euphoria among liberals that Bragg will get his shot in taking down Trump for the most preposterous of all cases, a simple extortion case by a women making outrageous claims. Trump never realized all the years he pursued his real estate empire that he’d be made rich-and-famous, eventually becoming a successful reality TV star in his “Apprenctice” and “Celebrity Apprentice” shows. With fame, not wealth, came additional exposure, putting a target on his back for the likes of former Elle advice columnist. E. Jean Carroll who claimed that sometime in the mid-90s Trump raped her in a Berdorf-Goodman lingerie dressing room. Carroll was awarded May 9, 2023 $5 million for sex abuse, then, adding insult-to-injury, $83.3 million Jan. 26 for disparaging Carroll. So with fame brings a big fat target on Trump’s back.
Bragg wants Judge Juan M. Merchan to fine Trump for violating a gag order barring Trump from denigrating witnesses or anyone connected with the case. Harvard Law Prof. emeritus Alan Dershowitz, 85, said that the U.S. criminal justice system had been weaponized to go after Trump, prompting objections in the liberal press. No one in the press ever acknowledged the years of fake news about Trump’s alleged ties to the Kremlin. Trump was investigated by 63-year-old former FBI Director James Comey for alleged ties to the Kremlin based on former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fake Steele Dossier, created as opposition research for Trump’s 2016 campaign. Yet House and Senate Democrats, the press jumped all over the wild allegations, appointing former FBI Director Robert Mueller as Special Counsel to investigate Trump.
What can any disinterested, objective third party think of a criminal case against Trump dating back to 2006 and occurring in 2016 before the election? Bragg acts like Trump engaged in grand larceny whey he had his attorney pay off an extortionist for something he claimed never happened. How many people believe that Trump, a high profile New York socialite and celebrity in 1995 or so raped some random person in a dressing room? Now Bragg gets his shot of besmirching Trump, actually telling prospective jurors that Trump committed election law violations by paying off Stormy Daniels. What kind of legal theory has Trump the perpetrator of a crime when he was the victim of an extortion and blackmail scheme? Bragg is all pumped up now that he has a jury to try to convince that Trump violated some arcane bookkeeping laws writing off extortion as a legal expense.
Bragg’s lead prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked jurors if they could convict the former president of violating election laws. What kind of leading question is that that assumers facts that are not in evidence. Steinglass has no proof that Trump paid off Stormy Daniels to save his campaign or to spare his wife and family any embarrassment. Yet he tells jurors his legal theory behind his case against Trump. Trump’s lead attorney Todd Blanche feverishly questioned jurors to rule out any political bias against Trump. Whether he succeeded or not is anyone’s guess. Only one juror is needed in a criminal try to hang the jury and win acquittal. Bragg must convice a jury to trust a porn star extorting cash from Trump or his former, disbarred, disgraced and convicted felon former Atty. Michael Cohen. Bragg made his decision to use Cohen as his star witness and now must live with the consequences.
Bragg got what he asked for prosecuting Trump for violation election law in 2016, paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels. Now comes the hard part convincing a jury that his legal theory is correct, that Trump violated election laws paying for someone’s silence. But Bragg can’t say with facts in evidence that Trump didn’t try to spare his wife and family any embarrassment. Bragg wants to show jurors that Trump misrepresented payments to Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen as legal expenses, a bookkeeping issue that certainly doesn’t rise to a Class 3 felony or even a misdemeanor. Bragg asked jurors to send guess what’s appropriate for a businessman to record legal expenses when it came to paying off Stormy Daniels. Bragg plans to treat jurors to the intricacies of bookkeeping, not something most jurors can figure out. Jurors will certainly find out that Bragg thinks Trump violated election law when he had Cohen give Stormy Daniels $130,000 before the 2016 election.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
