• Alvin Bragg's Case Against Trump Should Have Been Dismissed |

    From Ubiquitous@21:1/5 to All on Mon Feb 19 21:05:01 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On Thursday, February 15, Acting Justice Juan Merchan in the Manhattan trial court ordered that Alvin Bragg's 34-count felony case against former
    president Trump, alleging falsification of business records regarding hush money he paid to adult performer Stormy Daniels in 2016, proceed to trial scheduled for March 25, 2024.

    It is no accident that the trial date is scheduled for three weeks after
    Super Tuesday, when sixteen states and territories, representing almost three-quarters of the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination, hold their primaries, and right before five more states hold their primaries on April 2. At best, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Trump or any presidential candidate to campaign and raise money while in the middle of criminal trials. In fact, during the hearing, Justice Merchan said that he spoke twice last week to Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court in D.C., who is overseeing Trump's January 6 criminal case, which special
    counsel Jack Smith is pushing hard to start as soon as possible.

    Though it was inevitable that at least one of Trump's many upcoming trials
    was going to start and almost certainly finish before the November 5, 2024 election, in perhaps a bit of political luck for Trump, Bragg's case is the weakest and least relevant to Trump's time in office, and thus fuels Trump's political claim that Democrats weaponized the justice system to "persecute"
    him in order to prevent his returning as president. It seems that Trump's strategy of appearing in court and attacking what his supporters view as a biased legal system is still paying political dividends for him, as it keeps him atop the nation's political attention.

    Donald Trump
    Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends
    a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024 in New York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard clapping... Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends
    a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024 in New York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard clapping in the court. Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images
    Bragg's case alleges that Trump, through his former fixer Michael Cohen and
    the Trump Organization, falsified business records with the intent to defraud and commit another crime. Trump allegedly violated federal campaign finance laws when he paid Daniels $130,000 through Cohen to sign a NDA about their alleged sexual encounter—something we have to glean not from the indictment
    but from Bragg's statement that Cohen pled guilty to campaign finance violations; Cohen, who paid Daniels the money out of pocket, labeled his invoiced reimbursements as "legal services" instead of something like "reimbursement for settlement payment re: extra-marital sex."

    Bragg turned this single transaction, which normally would have been one misdemeanor charge, into 34 separate felony counts with a maximum combined sentence of 136 years by throwing in the federal charge and aggressively subdividing each invoice, check, deposit, etc. into its own charge.

    All Bragg needs is a conviction on one of the 34 counts to destroy Trump.

    Justice Merchan's opinion apparently ignored several important points of law. For example, it seems to contradict the U.S. Supreme Court's body of cases which limit criminal fraud cases to depriving traditional property interests such as money, not something ephemeral. That's assuming there actually was an intent to defraud, because the only person whom the incorrect labeling
    affected was Trump himself.

    In fact, Bragg's indictment never specifies what the "another crime" is,
    which is a minimum requirement for any indictment, let alone one of this magnitude.

    Also, it is doubtful that Bragg may charge the federal crime. State
    prosecutors may not prosecute federal crimes because under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, only the president, through his Department of Justice, has that power. Imagine that a district attorney decided to prosecute Hunter,
    Joe, and Jim Biden for FARA violations because he or she felt that the DOJ
    was protecting them, or a district attorney in Arizona or Texas decided to prosecute illegal aliens for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act or the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which would contravene the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. United States (2012).

    Prior to Bragg's indictment, SDNY prosecutors investigated Trump's alleged campaign finance violations, as did the Federal Election Commission, but both declined to pursue the case because Trump used his own money, not campaign finance money, and because reimbursing someone for a hush-money payment does not fit the definition of an in-kind campaign contribution. In fact,
    candidates do not have to disclose expenses that would have been incurred
    even if no campaign existed; it is highly likely that Trump would have paid Daniels regardless just to avoid any marital strife or embarrassment to
    himself and his family.

    Furthermore, because Cohen paid Daniels on October 26, 2016, 13 days before
    the election, and Trump did not complete his reimbursement payments until December 5, 2017, Trump would not have had to report the payment to the FEC, assuming he had to at all, until February or March of 2017 at the earliest, well-after the 2016 election ended.

    Moreover, Bragg's assertion that disclosure of the payment would have
    affected the electoral outcome is wrong; in 2016, Trump lost the State of New York by more than 20 points, a ginormous margin; disclosure would not have
    made a difference.

    Again, imagine that a district attorney decided to charge Tony Blinken and Hunter Biden for an illegal, undisclosed in-kind campaign contribution when they lied in October 2020 to conceal that the abandoned laptop actually belonged to Hunter ("earmarks of a Russian information operation").

    It seems clear that Bragg twisted the law to bring this case only because the defendant is Donald Trump. A state court system that truly enforced the rule
    of law would stop its prosecutors from abusing their discretion as Bragg did.

    Justice Merchan should know better because he worked as an ADA under
    legendary district attorney Bob Morgenthau. A justice system with fairness
    and integrity would put the brakes on the rush to convict the former
    president. As Justice Robert H. Jackson once said, a prosecutor who singles
    out "some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass" is where "the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies," and that such a
    prosecutor "has a perverted sense of practical values, as well as defects of character."

    : John Yoo is the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of
    : California at Berkeley, a nonresident senior fellow at the American
    : Enterprise Institute, and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He
    : served in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. John Shu is a
    : legal scholar and commentator who served in the administrations of
    : Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

    --
    Let's go Brandon!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From pothead@21:1/5 to Ubiquitous on Tue Feb 20 13:11:33 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2024-02-20, Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
    On Thursday, February 15, Acting Justice Juan Merchan in the Manhattan trial court ordered that Alvin Bragg's 34-count felony case against former president Trump, alleging falsification of business records regarding hush money he paid to adult performer Stormy Daniels in 2016, proceed to trial scheduled for March 25, 2024.

    It is no accident that the trial date is scheduled for three weeks after Super Tuesday, when sixteen states and territories, representing almost three-quarters of the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination, hold their primaries, and right before five more states hold their primaries on April 2. At best, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Trump or any presidential candidate to campaign and raise money while in the middle of criminal trials. In fact, during the hearing, Justice Merchan said that he spoke twice last week to Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court in D.C., who is overseeing Trump's January 6 criminal case, which special counsel Jack Smith is pushing hard to start as soon as possible.

    Though it was inevitable that at least one of Trump's many upcoming trials was going to start and almost certainly finish before the November 5, 2024 election, in perhaps a bit of political luck for Trump, Bragg's case is the weakest and least relevant to Trump's time in office, and thus fuels Trump's political claim that Democrats weaponized the justice system to "persecute" him in order to prevent his returning as president. It seems that Trump's strategy of appearing in court and attacking what his supporters view as a biased legal system is still paying political dividends for him, as it keeps him atop the nation's political attention.

    Donald Trump
    Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024 in New York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard clapping... Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024 in New York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard clapping in the court. Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images
    Bragg's case alleges that Trump, through his former fixer Michael Cohen and the Trump Organization, falsified business records with the intent to defraud and commit another crime. Trump allegedly violated federal campaign finance laws when he paid Daniels $130,000 through Cohen to sign a NDA about their alleged sexual encounter—something we have to glean not from the indictment but from Bragg's statement that Cohen pled guilty to campaign finance violations; Cohen, who paid Daniels the money out of pocket, labeled his invoiced reimbursements as "legal services" instead of something like "reimbursement for settlement payment re: extra-marital sex."

    Bragg turned this single transaction, which normally would have been one misdemeanor charge, into 34 separate felony counts with a maximum combined sentence of 136 years by throwing in the federal charge and aggressively subdividing each invoice, check, deposit, etc. into its own charge.

    All Bragg needs is a conviction on one of the 34 counts to destroy Trump.

    Justice Merchan's opinion apparently ignored several important points of law. For example, it seems to contradict the U.S. Supreme Court's body of cases which limit criminal fraud cases to depriving traditional property interests such as money, not something ephemeral. That's assuming there actually was an intent to defraud, because the only person whom the incorrect labeling affected was Trump himself.

    In fact, Bragg's indictment never specifies what the "another crime" is, which is a minimum requirement for any indictment, let alone one of this magnitude.

    Also, it is doubtful that Bragg may charge the federal crime. State prosecutors may not prosecute federal crimes because under Article II of the U.S. Constitution, only the president, through his Department of Justice, has that power. Imagine that a district attorney decided to prosecute Hunter, Joe, and Jim Biden for FARA violations because he or she felt that the DOJ was protecting them, or a district attorney in Arizona or Texas decided to prosecute illegal aliens for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act or the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which would contravene the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. United States (2012).

    Prior to Bragg's indictment, SDNY prosecutors investigated Trump's alleged campaign finance violations, as did the Federal Election Commission, but both declined to pursue the case because Trump used his own money, not campaign finance money, and because reimbursing someone for a hush-money payment does not fit the definition of an in-kind campaign contribution. In fact, candidates do not have to disclose expenses that would have been incurred even if no campaign existed; it is highly likely that Trump would have paid Daniels regardless just to avoid any marital strife or embarrassment to himself and his family.

    Furthermore, because Cohen paid Daniels on October 26, 2016, 13 days before the election, and Trump did not complete his reimbursement payments until December 5, 2017, Trump would not have had to report the payment to the FEC, assuming he had to at all, until February or March of 2017 at the earliest, well-after the 2016 election ended.

    Moreover, Bragg's assertion that disclosure of the payment would have affected the electoral outcome is wrong; in 2016, Trump lost the State of New York by more than 20 points, a ginormous margin; disclosure would not have made a difference.

    Again, imagine that a district attorney decided to charge Tony Blinken and Hunter Biden for an illegal, undisclosed in-kind campaign contribution when they lied in October 2020 to conceal that the abandoned laptop actually belonged to Hunter ("earmarks of a Russian information operation").

    It seems clear that Bragg twisted the law to bring this case only because the defendant is Donald Trump. A state court system that truly enforced the rule of law would stop its prosecutors from abusing their discretion as Bragg did.

    Justice Merchan should know better because he worked as an ADA under legendary district attorney Bob Morgenthau. A justice system with fairness and integrity would put the brakes on the rush to convict the former president. As Justice Robert H. Jackson once said, a prosecutor who singles out "some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass" is where "the greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies," and that such a prosecutor "has a perverted sense of practical values, as well as defects of character."

    : John Yoo is the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of
    : California at Berkeley, a nonresident senior fellow at the American
    : Enterprise Institute, and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He
    : served in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. John Shu is a
    : legal scholar and commentator who served in the administrations of
    : Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

    --
    Let's go Brandon!


    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.
    It boggles the mind.

    Just wait until the shoe is on the other foot and it's a progressive candidate getting attacked. I
    hear the snowflakes whining already. And this will happen at some point because the progressives
    have opened up Pandora's Box.

    --
    pothead
    Tommy Chong For President 2024.
    Crazy Joe Biden Is A Demented Imbecile.
    Impeach Joe Biden 2022.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Ubiquitous@21:1/5 to Ubiquitous on Tue Feb 20 07:32:04 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2/19/2024 5:05 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:
    On Thursday, February 15, Acting Justice Juan Merchan in the Manhattan trial court ordered that Alvin Bragg's 34-count felony case against former president Trump, alleging falsification of business records regarding hush money he paid to adult performer Stormy Daniels in 2016, proceed to trial scheduled for March 25, 2024.

    That's the correct decision. There is no valid reason to dismiss the charges.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Richard Clayton Wieber@21:1/5 to pothead on Tue Feb 20 07:31:56 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2/20/2024 5:11 AM, pothead wrote:
    On 2024-02-20, Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
    On Thursday, February 15, Acting Justice Juan Merchan in the Manhattan trial >> court ordered that Alvin Bragg's 34-count felony case against former
    president Trump, alleging falsification of business records regarding hush >> money he paid to adult performer Stormy Daniels in 2016, proceed to trial
    scheduled for March 25, 2024.

    It is no accident that the trial date is scheduled for three weeks after
    Super Tuesday, when sixteen states and territories, representing almost
    three-quarters of the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination, hold their >> primaries, and right before five more states hold their primaries on April 2.
    At best, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for Trump or any
    presidential candidate to campaign and raise money while in the middle of
    criminal trials. In fact, during the hearing, Justice Merchan said that he >> spoke twice last week to Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District Court in >> D.C., who is overseeing Trump's January 6 criminal case, which special
    counsel Jack Smith is pushing hard to start as soon as possible.

    Though it was inevitable that at least one of Trump's many upcoming trials >> was going to start and almost certainly finish before the November 5, 2024 >> election, in perhaps a bit of political luck for Trump, Bragg's case is the >> weakest and least relevant to Trump's time in office, and thus fuels Trump's >> political claim that Democrats weaponized the justice system to "persecute" >> him in order to prevent his returning as president. It seems that Trump's
    strategy of appearing in court and attacking what his supporters view as a >> biased legal system is still paying political dividends for him, as it keeps >> him atop the nation's political attention.

    Donald Trump
    Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends
    a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024 in New >> York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard clapping... >> Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump attends
    a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024 in New >> York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard clapping in >> the court. Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images
    Bragg's case alleges that Trump, through his former fixer Michael Cohen and >> the Trump Organization, falsified business records with the intent to defraud
    and commit another crime. Trump allegedly violated federal campaign finance >> laws when he paid Daniels $130,000 through Cohen to sign a NDA about their >> alleged sexual encounter—something we have to glean not from the indictment >> but from Bragg's statement that Cohen pled guilty to campaign finance
    violations; Cohen, who paid Daniels the money out of pocket, labeled his
    invoiced reimbursements as "legal services" instead of something like
    "reimbursement for settlement payment re: extra-marital sex."

    Bragg turned this single transaction, which normally would have been one
    misdemeanor charge, into 34 separate felony counts with a maximum combined >> sentence of 136 years by throwing in the federal charge and aggressively
    subdividing each invoice, check, deposit, etc. into its own charge.

    All Bragg needs is a conviction on one of the 34 counts to destroy Trump.

    Justice Merchan's opinion apparently ignored several important points of law.
    For example, it seems to contradict the U.S. Supreme Court's body of cases >> which limit criminal fraud cases to depriving traditional property interests >> such as money, not something ephemeral. That's assuming there actually was an
    intent to defraud, because the only person whom the incorrect labeling
    affected was Trump himself.

    In fact, Bragg's indictment never specifies what the "another crime" is,
    which is a minimum requirement for any indictment, let alone one of this
    magnitude.

    Also, it is doubtful that Bragg may charge the federal crime. State
    prosecutors may not prosecute federal crimes because under Article II of the >> U.S. Constitution, only the president, through his Department of Justice, has
    that power. Imagine that a district attorney decided to prosecute Hunter,
    Joe, and Jim Biden for FARA violations because he or she felt that the DOJ >> was protecting them, or a district attorney in Arizona or Texas decided to >> prosecute illegal aliens for violating the Immigration and Nationality Act or
    the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which would contravene the U.S. >> Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. United States (2012).

    Prior to Bragg's indictment, SDNY prosecutors investigated Trump's alleged >> campaign finance violations, as did the Federal Election Commission, but both
    declined to pursue the case because Trump used his own money, not campaign >> finance money, and because reimbursing someone for a hush-money payment does >> not fit the definition of an in-kind campaign contribution. In fact,
    candidates do not have to disclose expenses that would have been incurred
    even if no campaign existed; it is highly likely that Trump would have paid >> Daniels regardless just to avoid any marital strife or embarrassment to
    himself and his family.

    Furthermore, because Cohen paid Daniels on October 26, 2016, 13 days before >> the election, and Trump did not complete his reimbursement payments until
    December 5, 2017, Trump would not have had to report the payment to the FEC, >> assuming he had to at all, until February or March of 2017 at the earliest, >> well-after the 2016 election ended.

    Moreover, Bragg's assertion that disclosure of the payment would have
    affected the electoral outcome is wrong; in 2016, Trump lost the State of New
    York by more than 20 points, a ginormous margin; disclosure would not have >> made a difference.

    Again, imagine that a district attorney decided to charge Tony Blinken and >> Hunter Biden for an illegal, undisclosed in-kind campaign contribution when >> they lied in October 2020 to conceal that the abandoned laptop actually
    belonged to Hunter ("earmarks of a Russian information operation").

    It seems clear that Bragg twisted the law to bring this case only because the
    defendant is Donald Trump. A state court system that truly enforced the rule >> of law would stop its prosecutors from abusing their discretion as Bragg did.

    Justice Merchan should know better because he worked as an ADA under
    legendary district attorney Bob Morgenthau. A justice system with fairness >> and integrity would put the brakes on the rush to convict the former
    president. As Justice Robert H. Jackson once said, a prosecutor who singles >> out "some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass" is where "the
    greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies," and that such a
    prosecutor "has a perverted sense of practical values, as well as defects of >> character."

    : John Yoo is the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of
    : California at Berkeley, a nonresident senior fellow at the American
    : Enterprise Institute, and a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. He >> : served in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. John Shu is a >> : legal scholar and commentator who served in the administrations of
    : Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

    --
    Let's go Brandon!


    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.

    Yes, because there is no such conspiracy.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Doe@21:1/5 to Richard Clayton Wieber on Tue Feb 20 09:34:39 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2/20/2024 8:31 AM, Richard Clayton Wieber wrote:
    On 2/20/2024 5:11 AM, pothead wrote:
    On 2024-02-20, Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> wrote:
    On Thursday, February 15, Acting Justice Juan Merchan in the
    Manhattan trial
    court ordered that Alvin Bragg's 34-count felony case against former
    president Trump, alleging falsification of business records regarding
    hush
    money he paid to adult performer Stormy Daniels in 2016, proceed to
    trial
    scheduled for March 25, 2024.

    It is no accident that the trial date is scheduled for three weeks after >>> Super Tuesday, when sixteen states and territories, representing almost
    three-quarters of the delegates needed to win the GOP nomination,
    hold their
    primaries, and right before five more states hold their primaries on
    April 2.
    At best, it would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, for
    Trump or any
    presidential candidate to campaign and raise money while in the
    middle of
    criminal trials. In fact, during the hearing, Justice Merchan said
    that he
    spoke twice last week to Judge Tanya Chutkan of the U.S. District
    Court in
    D.C., who is overseeing Trump's January 6 criminal case, which special
    counsel Jack Smith is pushing hard to start as soon as possible.

    Though it was inevitable that at least one of Trump's many upcoming
    trials
    was going to start and almost certainly finish before the November 5,
    2024
    election, in perhaps a bit of political luck for Trump, Bragg's case
    is the
    weakest and least relevant to Trump's time in office, and thus fuels
    Trump's
    political claim that Democrats weaponized the justice system to
    "persecute"
    him in order to prevent his returning as president. It seems that
    Trump's
    strategy of appearing in court and attacking what his supporters view
    as a
    biased legal system is still paying political dividends for him, as
    it keeps
    him atop the nation's political attention.

    Donald Trump
    Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump
    attends
    a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024
    in New
    York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard
    clapping...
    Republican presidential candidate, former U.S. President Donald Trump
    attends
    a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court on February 15, 2024
    in New
    York City. Media reports said Trump smiled as a person was heard
    clapping in
    the court. Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty Images
    Bragg's case alleges that Trump, through his former fixer Michael
    Cohen and
    the Trump Organization, falsified business records with the intent to
    defraud
    and commit another crime. Trump allegedly violated federal campaign
    finance
    laws when he paid Daniels $130,000 through Cohen to sign a NDA about
    their
    alleged sexual encounter—something we have to glean not from the
    indictment
    but from Bragg's statement that Cohen pled guilty to campaign finance
    violations; Cohen, who paid Daniels the money out of pocket, labeled his >>> invoiced reimbursements as "legal services" instead of something like
    "reimbursement for settlement payment re: extra-marital sex."

    Bragg turned this single transaction, which normally would have been one >>> misdemeanor charge, into 34 separate felony counts with a maximum
    combined
    sentence of 136 years by throwing in the federal charge and aggressively >>> subdividing each invoice, check, deposit, etc. into its own charge.

    All Bragg needs is a conviction on one of the 34 counts to destroy
    Trump.

    Justice Merchan's opinion apparently ignored several important points
    of law.
    For example, it seems to contradict the U.S. Supreme Court's body of
    cases
    which limit criminal fraud cases to depriving traditional property
    interests
    such as money, not something ephemeral. That's assuming there
    actually was an
    intent to defraud, because the only person whom the incorrect labeling
    affected was Trump himself.

    In fact, Bragg's indictment never specifies what the "another crime" is, >>> which is a minimum requirement for any indictment, let alone one of this >>> magnitude.

    Also, it is doubtful that Bragg may charge the federal crime. State
    prosecutors may not prosecute federal crimes because under Article II
    of the
    U.S. Constitution, only the president, through his Department of
    Justice, has
    that power. Imagine that a district attorney decided to prosecute
    Hunter,
    Joe, and Jim Biden for FARA violations because he or she felt that
    the DOJ
    was protecting them, or a district attorney in Arizona or Texas
    decided to
    prosecute illegal aliens for violating the Immigration and
    Nationality Act or
    the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, which would contravene
    the U.S.
    Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. United States (2012).

    Prior to Bragg's indictment, SDNY prosecutors investigated Trump's
    alleged
    campaign finance violations, as did the Federal Election Commission,
    but both
    declined to pursue the case because Trump used his own money, not
    campaign
    finance money, and because reimbursing someone for a hush-money
    payment does
    not fit the definition of an in-kind campaign contribution. In fact,
    candidates do not have to disclose expenses that would have been
    incurred
    even if no campaign existed; it is highly likely that Trump would
    have paid
    Daniels regardless just to avoid any marital strife or embarrassment to
    himself and his family.

    Furthermore, because Cohen paid Daniels on October 26, 2016, 13 days
    before
    the election, and Trump did not complete his reimbursement payments
    until
    December 5, 2017, Trump would not have had to report the payment to
    the FEC,
    assuming he had to at all, until February or March of 2017 at the
    earliest,
    well-after the 2016 election ended.

    Moreover, Bragg's assertion that disclosure of the payment would have
    affected the electoral outcome is wrong; in 2016, Trump lost the
    State of New
    York by more than 20 points, a ginormous margin; disclosure would not
    have
    made a difference.

    Again, imagine that a district attorney decided to charge Tony
    Blinken and
    Hunter Biden for an illegal, undisclosed in-kind campaign
    contribution when
    they lied in October 2020 to conceal that the abandoned laptop actually
    belonged to Hunter ("earmarks of a Russian information operation").

    It seems clear that Bragg twisted the law to bring this case only
    because the
    defendant is Donald Trump. A state court system that truly enforced
    the rule
    of law would stop its prosecutors from abusing their discretion as
    Bragg did.

    Justice Merchan should know better because he worked as an ADA under
    legendary district attorney Bob Morgenthau. A justice system with
    fairness
    and integrity would put the brakes on the rush to convict the former
    president. As Justice Robert H. Jackson once said, a prosecutor who
    singles
    out "some person whom he dislikes or desires to embarrass" is where "the >>> greatest danger of abuse of prosecuting power lies," and that such a
    prosecutor "has a perverted sense of practical values, as well as
    defects of
    character."

    : John Yoo is the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the
    University of
    : California at Berkeley, a nonresident senior fellow at the American
    : Enterprise Institute, and a visiting fellow at the Hoover
    Institution. He
    : served in the U.S. Department of Justice from 2001 to 2003. John
    Shu is a
    : legal scholar and commentator who served in the administrations of
    : Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.

    --
    Let's go Brandon!


    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying
    conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.

    Yes, because there is no such conspiracy.

    Exactly. Obeying the law is not persecution.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From pothead@21:1/5 to Governor Swill on Wed Feb 21 21:50:56 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2024-02-21, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    But it wasn't.

    On Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:11:33 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote:
    <snip>
    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.
    It boggles the mind.

    Just wait until the shoe is on the other foot and it's a progressive candidate getting attacked. I
    hear the snowflakes whining already. And this will happen at some point because the progressives
    have opened up Pandora's Box.

    The shoe *IS* on the other foot. The incompetent Republicans spent thirty years trying to
    burn one of the Clintons and failed.

    Only because corrupt, deep state Comey let her go.


    Only took the Dems two years to get 91 indictments. And the list of civil suits and other
    crimes and legal actions he has to answer for is just too long to memorize.

    And why now?
    Trump has been around in the public for decades.
    So why all of a sudden do the Dems go after him with their kangaroo courts?

    If he wasn't such a crook to start with he wouldn't be in this mess.

    Nowhere near the level of the Biden crime family.


    He's spent his whole life using the courts to escape debt and force others to do what he
    wants. He's guilty of everything he's ever charged the Dems with and worse.

    Like every other big business.
    Try suing GM if your brakes on your brand new car failed on the way home from the dealership and
    you caused a serious accident.
    The average person will be tied up in the courts for years, if not decades.
    Who has that kind of money?
    GM does, that's who.


    Imported undocumented workers from Poland then refused to pay them.
    Has all his merch manufactured abroad instead of in America.
    Will sue at the drop of a hat.

    Like most of the elite welfare.
    Ask Barbra Streisand who does her landscaping.

    Lies when the truth would work better.

    That one I agree with.

    The list goes on and on.

    Swill

    TBH I don't care what a POTUS did before becoming a POTUS.
    I look at what they have done as POTUS or VP etc.
    And Trump made life much better.
    Biden has destroyed the US.
    The deep state is terrified of Trump which is why they are trying everything they can to take him
    down. I'm surprised he hasn't been assassinated by now.



    --
    pothead
    Tommy Chong For President 2024.
    Crazy Joe Biden Is A Demented Imbecile.
    Impeach Joe Biden 2022.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Siri Cruise@21:1/5 to pothead on Wed Feb 21 17:23:47 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    pothead wrote:
    Just wait until the shoe is on the other foot and it's a progressive candidate getting attacked. I
    hear the snowflakes whining already. And this will happen at some point because the progressives
    have opened up Pandora's Box.
    The shoe*IS* on the other foot. The incompetent Republicans spent thirty years trying to
    burn one of the Clintons and failed.
    Only because corrupt, deep state Comey let her go.

    https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mccarthy-says-communists-are-in-state-department

    During a speech in Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator Joseph
    McCarthy (Republican-Wisconsin) claims that he has a list with the
    names of over 200 members of the Department of State that are
    “known communists.” The speech vaulted McCarthy to national
    prominence and sparked a nationwide hysteria about subversives in
    the American government.

    Speaking before the Ohio County Women’s Republican Club in
    Wheeling, West Virginia, Senator McCarthy waved before his
    audience a piece of paper. According to the only published
    newspaper account of the speech, McCarthy said that, “I have here
    in my hand a list of 205 [State Department employees] that were
    known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist
    Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping the
    policy of the State Department.” In the next few weeks, the number
    fluctuated wildly, with McCarthy stating at various times that
    there were 57, or 81, or 10 communists in the Department of State.
    In fact, McCarthy never produced any solid evidence that there was
    even one communist in the State Department.

    --
    Siri Seal of Disavowal #000-001. Disavowed. Denied. @
    'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' /|\
    The Church of the Holey Apple .signature 3.2 / \
    of Discordian Mysteries. This post insults Islam. Mohamed

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From pothead@21:1/5 to Governor Swill on Thu Feb 22 22:38:09 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2024-02-22, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wed, 21 Feb 2024 21:50:56 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote:

    On 2024-02-21, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    But it wasn't.

    On Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:11:33 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote:
    <snip>
    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.
    It boggles the mind.

    Just wait until the shoe is on the other foot and it's a progressive candidate getting attacked. I
    hear the snowflakes whining already. And this will happen at some point because the progressives
    have opened up Pandora's Box.

    The shoe *IS* on the other foot. The incompetent Republicans spent thirty years trying to
    burn one of the Clintons and failed.

    Only because corrupt, deep state Comey let her go.

    Isn't that a lot like Mueller letting Trump go?

    Both he and Comer found guilt but the evidence was not sufficient in either case to
    warrant prosecution.

    Swill

    Did Trump destroy subpoenaed evidence like Hillary did?
    That alone is a serious crime.


    --
    pothead
    Tommy Chong For President 2024.
    Crazy Joe Biden Is A Demented Imbecile.
    Impeach Joe Biden 2022.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Doe@21:1/5 to pothead on Thu Feb 22 17:22:15 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2/22/2024 3:38 PM, pothead wrote:
    On 2024-02-22, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wed, 21 Feb 2024 21:50:56 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote:

    On 2024-02-21, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    But it wasn't.

    On Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:11:33 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote:
    <snip>
    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.
    It boggles the mind.

    Just wait until the shoe is on the other foot and it's a progressive candidate getting attacked. I
    hear the snowflakes whining already. And this will happen at some point because the progressives
    have opened up Pandora's Box.

    The shoe *IS* on the other foot. The incompetent Republicans spent thirty years trying to
    burn one of the Clintons and failed.

    Only because corrupt, deep state Comey let her go.

    Isn't that a lot like Mueller letting Trump go?

    Both he and Comer found guilt but the evidence was not sufficient in either case to
    warrant prosecution.

    Swill

    Did Trump destroy subpoenaed evidence like Hillary did?
    That alone is a serious crime.


    That data was (a) deleted per standard government classified handling instructions and (b) deleted before the subpoena was issued. That's why
    it was deemed not a crime. Probably not reported on Fox, but documented
    news.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From pothead@21:1/5 to John Doe on Fri Feb 23 01:26:36 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2024-02-23, John Doe <NoOne@private.corp> wrote:
    On 2/22/2024 3:38 PM, pothead wrote:
    On 2024-02-22, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wed, 21 Feb 2024 21:50:56 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wroGavin Newsom Named
    U-Haul Salesperson Of The Yearte:

    On 2024-02-21, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    But it wasn't.

    On Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:11:33 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote:
    <snip>
    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.
    It boggles the mind.

    Just wait until the shoe is on the other foot and it's a progressive candidate getting attacked. I
    hear the snowflakes whining already. And this will happen at some point because the progressives
    have opened up Pandora's Box.

    The shoe *IS* on the other foot. The incompetent Republicans spent thirty years trying to
    burn one of the Clintons and failed.

    Only because corrupt, deep state Comey let her go.

    Isn't that a lot like Mueller letting Trump go?

    Both he and Comer found guilt but the evidence was not sufficient in either case to
    warrant prosecution.

    Swill

    Did Trump destroy subpoenaed evidence like Hillary did?
    That alone is a serious crime.


    That data was (a) deleted per standard government classified handling instructions and (b) deleted before the subpoena was issued. That's why
    it was deemed not a crime. Probably not reported on Fox, but documented
    news.

    And the Blackberry devices Hillary and her handlers destroyed?

    Notice how snopes runs cover for Hillary.

    <https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-smash-phone-hammer/>



    --
    pothead
    Tommy Chong For President 2024.
    Crazy Joe Biden Is A Demented Imbecile.
    Impeach Joe Biden 2022.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From John Doe@21:1/5 to pothead on Thu Feb 22 19:06:12 2024
    XPost: alt.tv.pol-incorrect, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa

    On 2/22/2024 6:26 PM, pothead wrote:
    On 2024-02-23, John Doe <NoOne@private.corp> wrote:
    On 2/22/2024 3:38 PM, pothead wrote:
    On 2024-02-22, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    On Wed, 21 Feb 2024 21:50:56 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wroGavin Newsom Named
    U-Haul Salesperson Of The Yearte:

    On 2024-02-21, Governor Swill <governor.swill@gmail.com> wrote:
    But it wasn't.

    On Tue, 20 Feb 2024 13:11:33 -0000 (UTC), pothead <pothead@snakebite.com> wrote:
    <snip>
    And the progressive left continue to deny that there is an underlying conspiracy to block Trump
    from getting elected.
    It boggles the mind.

    Just wait until the shoe is on the other foot and it's a progressive candidate getting attacked. I
    hear the snowflakes whining already. And this will happen at some point because the progressives
    have opened up Pandora's Box.

    The shoe *IS* on the other foot. The incompetent Republicans spent thirty years trying to
    burn one of the Clintons and failed.

    Only because corrupt, deep state Comey let her go.

    Isn't that a lot like Mueller letting Trump go?

    Both he and Comer found guilt but the evidence was not sufficient in either case to
    warrant prosecution.

    Swill

    Did Trump destroy subpoenaed evidence like Hillary did?
    That alone is a serious crime.


    That data was (a) deleted per standard government classified handling
    instructions and (b) deleted before the subpoena was issued. That's why
    it was deemed not a crime. Probably not reported on Fox, but documented
    news.

    And the Blackberry devices Hillary and her handlers destroyed?

    Same things. I held a TS clearance for years. Devices that cannot be
    reliably erased for re-use, if they deliberately or accidentally are
    used to store classified data, must be destroyed rather than re-used.


    Notice how snopes runs cover for Hillary.

    Runs cover. Reports facts. Tomato Tomato.

    <https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/hillary-clinton-smash-phone-hammer/>




    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)