Trump Indictment Should Be Dropped

Before reacting to the Manhattan charges against Trump, I wanted to read the "Statement of Facts" accompanying the Indictment (see post below). They certainly paint him as a sleazeball. I was especially stuck by the claim that Trump ordered his attorney, convicted felon Michael Cohen, to delay payments to Stormy Daniels so that he could avoid paying her at all if he won the election. I was at the same time appalled at the way Trump, like a Mafia bnss, expected Cohen to bite the bullet for him.  Having said that, the case is incredibly weak.

I already had a poor opinion of Trump. The issue is not whether he's a nice guy, but whether he committed any crimes. Though the indictment alleges 34 counts, we're really just dealing with hush money paid to the National Enquirer and Stormy Daniels. The DA overcharged, which is typical of most prosecutors who tend to slice the salami thin, as Alan Dershowitz says. It's still only one salami. 

Without question, Trump made hush money payments, which are by themselves legal. Business records are certainly describe the payments as legal fees instead of hush money payments. But are they really false? Cohen's negotiations leading up to these hush money payments certainly could be characterized as legal work. And even if business records were falsified, do we know that Trump is responsible for these false entries?

Assuming these are falsified business records, and that Trump knew all about it, is there evidence that Trump acted to cover up another crime? I really have my doubts. I am aware that Cohen pleaded to campaign finance law violations, but the feds refused to prosecute Trump under the same set of facts, even after he left office. 

Interestingly, DA Alvin Bragg fails to identify the crime Trump was attempting to hide. 

Could it be an illegal campaign contribution? A violation of state election laws? Sure, but equally plausible is that Trump made these payments to protect his wife, his minor son and his brand. 

There is some question in my mind whether the facts uttered even amount to a prima facie case. 

In addition to all of these problems, we have problems with the believability of Michael Cohen as well as a statute of limitations that may have expired. 

Putting partisanship aside and trying to look at this as objectively as possible, my conclusion is that this indictment is a political prosecution.

The only thing going against Trump is Trump himself. Last night, he gave a rambling speech in which he tried to minimize much more serious investigations being pursued in Georgia (Trump wanted the Secy of State to "find" the votes he needed to win); New York (inflating the value of business assets to defraud banks); and DOJ (obstruction in the retrieval of confidential documents and January 6 insurrection). After listening to his smears, there is no doubt in my mind that the Manhattan charges are correct. But just because you can do something doesn't mean you should.

This is one Manhattan project should be dropped.