LOS ANGELES.–Convicted May 30 on all 34 charges, 77-year-old President Donald Trump faces some tough times just getting over the psychological aspect of spending six-weeks in court and ending up losing. But if there’s any silver lining for Trump, the public still doesn’t have a clue what he did wrong or what law he violated, making the trial and conviction all the more partisan. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg ran on a platform in 2021 to try Trump because his predecessor Cyrus Vance Jr. decided against it. But with the White House pound its chest over Trump’s 34 convictions, the public has trouble figuring out what he did wrong. Bragg can only say he did his job but for what? Did Bragg consider his job stopping Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign? Did he think Trump actually committed felonies when New York State statutes say that bookkeeping irregularities are misdemeanors.
Trump is left plenty of room for appeal, largely because Judge Juan Merchan slapped sanctions on Trump for apparently violating a gag order of Trump not speaking about witnesses. How was Trump supposed to face trial without commenting about Bragg’s star witness former Atty. Michael Cohen. Trump lead defense Atty. Todd Blanche argued before the jury that a rogue Michael Cohen paid of Stormy Daniels without Trump’s consent. Enough witnesses testified that nothing got by Trump’s approval. Cohen worked hard to assure that he would be reimbursed by the Trump Organizaiton for paying $130,000 to Stormy Daniels. Blanche tried to sell skeptical jurors on Cohen going rogue without Trump’s consent in deciding to pay off Stormy Daniels. Jurors just didn’t buy that Trump did not authorize Cohen to pay off the 45-year-old porn star.
Blanche built his defense on a false premise that he couldn’t sell to the jury, that Trump left it only to Cohen to handle the Stormy Daniels extortion case. Daniels claimed she had a one-night stand with Trump in 2006, ten years before he ran for president. Jurors should have been immediately suspicious of Bragg’s case, realizing that the case was dated, an old irrelevant case to be pursuing in 2024. Yet prosecutors acted like the affair happened just the other day, claiming Trump’s motive, never with facts in evidence, was to deceive voters before the 2016 presidential election. Bragg’s prosecutors contended that Trump committed an election law violation, something usually prosecuted in federal court. Prosecutors assumed facts not in evidence regarding Trump’s motive in paying off Stormy Daniels. Clearly, Daniels extorted money from the former president.
Voters need to look carefully at the 34 convictions to realize they were highly politically motivate crimes. Whatever payment was made to Stormy Daniels, it was clear she wanted to blackmail Trump for $130,000 in cash. Daniels lied under oath that she didn’t do for the money. She tried to sell jurors on the idea she just wanted to clear her reputation. Reputation as what? An extortionist, pretending she had the affair to harm Trump politically? “It sounds beautiful, right: You know my revenge will be success. An I mean that . But it’s awfully hard when you see what they’ve done.,” Trump said. “These people are so evil. And at the same time, the country can come together,” Trump said, realizing that the public really doesn’t know what he did wrong in letting his former Atty. Michael Cohen deal with an extortionist, squeezing cash out of the former Celebrity Apprentice star.
So Bragg convicts Trump of lying about his motive to preventing voters from knowing about what? That 10 years before he ran for president some porn star looking to extort money from the real estate tycoon and reality TV star claims she had a one-night stand. Why should anything like this go to criminal trial when Bragg doesn’t really have facts in evidence proving that Stormy Daniels slept with Donald Trump.? Bragg charges Trump with bookkeeping irregularities violating New York law charging the $130,000 payout as a legal expense. Well when Trump had his former “fixer” Atty. Michael Cohen handle the nuisance blackmail case, what else could it be but a legal expense? New York’s Court of Appeals should have a field day reviewing the trial court’s transcript. Voters need to know what happens when corrupt bureaucrats exploit the criminal justice system.
Trump was robbed of due process from the beginning of the trial watching Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen appear nightly on national TV, trying-and-convicting him in the court of public opinion. Trump was slapped with a gag order by Merchan, fined several times, while the judge allowed Cohen and Daniels to denounce Trump on national TV. When Trump said Merchan and Bragg were biased Democrats, he wasn’t kidding. How are the public supposed to hold a kangaroo court and show trial against the former president? All the public knows is that Merchan’s jury threw the book at Trump, all because his defense Atty. Todd Blanche sold the jury a bill of goods. But whether or not Trump approved the payoff to Stormy Daniels, the whole case lacked legitimacy. Only the most partisan zealot could find any merit in the case against Trump.
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.
