The Trump Show Trials Are Getting Worse.
The New York "Hush Money" show trial is the worst show trial yet, and that's saying something.
The second week of the “historic” Trump “hush money” trial was completed yesterday with the first witness completing his testimony. Based on what we have seen to date, this show trial is set to be the worst yet for many reasons.
That it is a fascist show trial has been plain from the outset. Just as with the other Trump show trials, the rule of law is not followed. This is but one indication that it is a show trial. We will discuss other below.
If the rule of law were applied, this case would never have been brought for several reasons. To begin with, DA Alvin Bragg’s supposed crime is an improper bookkeeping entry. You can read the entire indictment here. However, this crime is a mere misdemeanor and the statute of limitations for it had expired prior to the indictment being filed. To get around this problem, Bragg alleges that the supposed improper bookkeeping entry was done intentionally, and fraudulently, to conceal another crime. This tolls the statute of limitations. It also raises the stakes to a felony because under New York’s penal law, section 175.10, it can be a felony if the “intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof.” So far, what we have is ordinary prosecutorial slight of hand. It is improper, but likely happens all the time unfortunately.
We enter show trial territory when the DA has to state what “crime” Trump was attempting to conceal. Bragg claims the underlying crime is that Trump was attempting to interfere with the 2016 election by concealing an affair with porn star Stormy Daniels.
It is plain to anyone that the underlying crime must be a crime under the laws of the State of New York. What Bragg is alleging is a Federal crime. It does not qualify and, thus, any reasonable judge would have dismissed the indictment. The fact that “judge” Merchan did not toss out Bragg’s farce demonstrates that he does not intend to follow the rule of law. At this juncture, all indications are that we have entered show trial territory.
But it gets worse. Even assuming the New York law that Trump broke with his allegedly fraudulent bookkeeping to hide a Federal crime, and that the Federal crime is sufficient to support a felony under New York law, the Manhattan DA must be able to prove that Trump actually committed the Federal crime. He cannot. Unanimous Supreme Court precedent states that for payments to be a Federal campaign violation, that the prosecution must prove the only reason the payment was made was to influence the election. One can imagine hundreds of reasons that Trump might pay Stormy Daniels. In light of that, the judge, if he were one, should have dismissed the case because Bragg cannot prove the supposed underlying crime (which, as explained above, likely is insufficient to satisfy the New York law that Trump supposedly violated because it is a Federal, not State crime).
The fact that payments like this one are so common and persons in Trump’s position might have so many different reasons to make the payment other than the story’s impact on the election likely explains why even Biden’s corrupt Department of Injustice did not bring charges. It also explained why the FEC declined to hit Trump with any campaign violation fine or sanction.
But this is where America is. The laws are not being faithfully applied. As a result, restrictions that should prevent the government from prosecuting a case, either civilly or criminally, are ignored. When this happens, if a state official determines that he or she wants to take your money via a civil case, it may proceed and the only check is a judge or a jury. The same occurs when an official wants to take your freedom. This is third world level corruption.
What potentially makes it worse is that the Media, the entity that in a functioning Republic would be telling the public that the rule of law is not being followed is not just not doing its job, but cheering this on. Indeed, the MainStreamMedia is actually complicit because this “trial” is not being live streamed. Thus, the Media gets to feed the public whatever it wants regardless of the truth and we have already been fed a ton of obvious lies about the trial. They love this because it returns the monopoly on the “news” they once enjoyed.
At this juncture, we would already have the worst of the show trials to date, but there is more. A few other items reveal just how corrupt this proceeding is. It has been revealed that the “judge’s” daughter not only is a campaign operative and has made many anti-Trump social media posts, but that she has raised over $100 million dollars with this trial. The law requires a judge to recuse himself or herself if there is the appearance of bias. The standard is whether a reasonable person would believe he or she would get a fair hearing. No reasonable person would believe that Judge Merchan would be fair. Yet, he refuses to follow the law and continues to preside.
This is particularly damning considering that Manhattan has 100 other judges who could handle this case. In a just system, especially considering the novelty of the case, one would think that Manhattan would avoid even the appearance of impropriety. The fact that it revels in the improperness is yet more proof we are dealing with a fascist show trial.
Another element of the “show” element is the length of the trial. It does not take six weeks to try a case about improper documentation of the payment of hush money to influence an election. Plainly Alvin Bragg has been given six weeks so that he can put on a spectacle. Any honest legal commentator would tell you this and I tweeted as soon as I heard the trial was scheduled for six weeks. Bragg quickly proved me correct, spending the first week of testimony putting former National Inquirer publisher David Pecker on the stand. The point was clearly to smear Trump and not to discuss the underlying crime. Trump must be guilty because rich people pay money to people to cover up supposedly bad behavior or some such. An honest judge would not have permitted such an irrelevant witness.
He was not a particularly good witness for the prosecution, but that was not his job—it was to smear Trump. Thus, on cross examination, Pecker admitted that had Trump told him that he knew nothing about any reimbursement to Cohen for any hush money, that he had killed or raised such stories with Trump for decades before he ever announced for president and that he had also killed stories for other celebrities and politicians, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tiger Woods, Rahm Emanuel and Mark Wahlberg. He also testified that Trump told him that paying hush money never really worked because stories still get out. And he understood that Michael Cohen was working as Trump’s personal counsel, not his campaign counsel. Finally, he testified that Trump had no direct involvement in arranging any payments. Again, the point of this witness was not the underlying facts or case—he provided the “show.”
The other element of this show trial that is making matters worse is the “judge’s” gag order. You can read the order here. Gag orders are unconstitutional “prior restraints” of speech. In the Trump era, they have become more common because Democrats are more emboldened to violate constitutional protections. But this gag order is absurd because it is wildly overboard. For example, Trump is not permitted to criticize members of the DA’s team or family members of those involved in the proceeding. Essentially, Trump is not permitted to criticize as corrupt the people that he believes are corruptly prosecuting him.
But this is all part of the show trial element on the case and according to plan. That is, Merchan entered the unconstitutional order hoping that Trump would violate it by exercising his Free Speech rights to he could further rig the “trial.” A fair judge would not have entered the order, even if it were constitutional (it is not), because, again, it makes the proceeding appear to be unfair.
In addition, the idiotic order encourages Bragg to bring motions claiming that it is being violated. This, of course, is precisely what Bragg has done. Merchan held a “hearing” this past week and expected to rule in the coming days. While it is unlikely that he will sanction Trump with jail time, he theoretically could.
Yet another reason why the latest show trial is the worst to date—the specter of jail time for Trump either through a contempt sanction or a guilty verdict. Ordinarily a first time offender would not be facing the specter of jail time, but, again, we are no longer in ordinary times. Recent news has revealed that Bragg’s top prosecutor left Biden’s DOJ to help spearhead this abomination of justice. Not just the DOJ mind you, but Matthew Colangelo left his job as the third ranking member of the DOJ to prosecute Trump. If he succeeds, Biden will join a long line of fascists and communists who have successfully jailed their political opposition.
While it is deeply disappointing, it should not be surprising. When a republic starts to decay and crumble, things generally proceed in one direction. This is what we are witnessing in the Trump show trials. This one is the worst yet. It will be a template for the next one, and that one in turn will be worse.
Unless the Supreme Court steps in and puts an end to this. It might based on the recent oral arguments. But that will have to wait for a future article.