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An expired crime that’s no crime in any respect. A mysterious secondary crime that was shrouded incognito. A mendacity witness and convicted perjurer who can be a thief. That’s the sum and substance of the inane prison case introduced towards former President Donald Trump in a Manhattan courtroom.
It got here into full focus throughout closing arguments on Tuesday as lead protection legal professional Todd Blanche pierced the veil of this charade of a trial by dismantling practically each facet of District Legal professional Alvin Bragg’s farcical prosecution.
“President Trump is harmless,” declared Blanche. “He didn’t commit any crimes. The district legal professional didn’t meet the burden of proof. Interval.”
If there’s a sufferer on this sordid saga, it’s Trump. A grasping ex-porn star, Stormy Daniels, extorted cash because the 2016 presidential election approached. The candidate’s then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, capitulated by forking over money in alternate for a non-disclosure 8 years in the past. There may be nothing unlawful about that transaction, and proof is compelling that he did all of it on his personal.
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Undeterred, prosecutors conjured up a legendary set of crimes by claiming that when Trump Group accountants booked reimbursements to Cohen in a pc ledger as “authorized bills,” they have been falsifying personal enterprise data, an expired misdemeanor multiplied by 34 invoices in a contemptible act known as “depend stacking.”
However as Blanche defined to the jury, “the bookings have been correct.” Cohen was recompensed for his authorized work in negotiating a lawful contract and the related authorized prices incurred. His compensation additionally included extra typical authorized providers rendered.
District Legal professional Alvin Bragg has disadvantaged Trump of a good trial by robbing him of his due course of rights assured beneath the Fourteenth Modification. Is anybody actually stunned?
Bragg’s legal theory that voters have been one way or the other defrauded in a conspiracy to affect the 2016 election is nonsensical, argued Blanche. The reserving entries occurred in 2017, the 12 months after the presidential contest ended. It’s factually unimaginable to affect an election when it’s over. Regardless, there was no credible proof that Trump had something to do with the accounting strategies and even knew about them. Why would he? He was the CEO, not the bookkeeper.
On that foundation alone, jurors ought to acquit. Who precisely was defrauded? Voters who had already voted? The federal government which obtained full cost on all taxable revenue? The Federal Election Commission (FEC) that concluded the cash paid didn’t represent a marketing campaign donation beneath legislation? Prosecutors by no means truly disclosed the lynchpin of their case in the course of the trial as a result of they might not. There was no fraud and no conspiracy. It’s that straightforward. Furthermore, and not using a main crime, there might be no secondary crime.
Not as soon as in the course of the trial did the DA supply any believable proof that Trump supposed to defraud anybody. As an alternative, prosecutors invented a chimera —an imaginary crime that exists nowhere within the legislation. In a traditional case with a impartial jury, the perversity of that shameless prosecutorial tactic could be apparent and a “not responsible” verdict would instantly observe.
However right here, Bragg and his confederates are betting the farm on a biased jury that’s predisposed to convict Trump based mostly on their very own political beliefs of the accused regardless of a paucity of incriminating info. Any neutral jury would have little hassle rendering an acquittal in brief order. It ought to by no means have gotten this far. Trustworthy prosecutors would by no means have introduced such perverse fees or hung their total case on a convicted perjurer.
The protection took direct goal at Cohen’s already shattered credibility. In his closing argument, Blanche recounted a number of events by which Cohen lied on to the jurors throughout his trial testimony. That’s on prime of the myriad of different lies that he peddled to Congress, banks, a particular counsel, the media, his spouse, the IRS, the FEC, authorities attorneys, and judges in courts of legislation. His sudden and compelled admission to larceny on cross-examination means that he additionally lied to the very prosecutors who known as him to the stand.
In a stinging rebuke that will ring memorably within the minds of jurors, the protection stated, “Michael Cohen is the GLOAT…he’s the best liar of all time.”
It’s incomprehensible that Bragg would depend on a continual liar, however he had nothing else. As I’ve famous earlier than, the DA knew his star witness would lie much more when he slithered to the stand. One can solely conclude that prosecutors wished him to take action. That’s perilously near suborning perjury, though Bragg and his acolytes couldn’t care much less. Of their guide, honesty is for chumps. All they care about is contorting the legislation and mangling the proof to convict an harmless man for purely political causes.
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It’s an unlucky benefit that prosecutors in New York have the ultimate say to a jury. However that edge appeared squandered. In his counter arguments, Joshua Steinglass tried in useless to rehabilitate the discredited Cohen. It was a idiot’s errand. There have been too many lies to rationalize and too many sleazy maneuvers to cleanse. Prosecutors tainted themselves by aligning with a infamous con artist. They vouched for a “serial perjurer,” as a federal decide lately known as him.
The very best that Steinglass may say about Cohen is, “He doesn’t lie all the time.” Actually? How about more often than not? Every time his lips are shifting? When he talks in his sleep? In actuality, there was no fixing the self-proclaimed “fixer.” He’s an irreparable reprobate.
In a head-turning feat of gymnastics, the assistant DA then instructed jurors to neglect about Cohen as a result of there’s “a mountain” of different incriminating proof with out him. In that case, then why was it essential to name Cohen to the stand if his testimony was superfluous?
It was a intelligent sleight of hand, however a feint that jurors simply may fall for.
Recognizing the conspicuous weak spot of their case, Decide Juan Merchan deputized himself as co-prosecutor within the trial. His prejudice was on full show in nearly each ruling from the bench. He sided with the DA in most objections, rejected protection pleas for equity, and rigged jury directions to assist guarantee a conviction.
I dare say that within the historical past of American jurisprudence, by no means has a defendant been tried on an unidentified cost. No moral prosecutor would ever do it. No truthful or competent decide would ever permit it as a result of each defendant has a proper to learn of the exact accusations towards him. It’s assured within the Bill of Rights and rigorously guarded.
Till now.
Within the prison case towards Trump, prosecutors claimed that the accused falsified personal enterprise data to hide one other crime. That crime, nonetheless, was by no means charged within the indictment and by no means disclosed throughout testimony within the five-week trial. Just like the suspense thriller, “American Psycho,” the twisted plot was unraveled within the closing scene. Perhaps. Form of.
Solely in closing arguments did the prosecution lastly specify which of the three potential crimes that Trump supposedly supposed to hide. However even that reveal was a jumble of confusion. Steinglass contended that state legislation was violated, which contradicted his earlier pronouncement to the jury that the thriller crime was a federal election violation.
Neglect that Bragg has no authority as a neighborhood prosecutor to implement federal legislation or that state legislation has no software in a federal election. And neglect that no marketing campaign finance legal guidelines have been transgressed. The feds, which have unique jurisdiction, declined to prosecute what have been clearly non-crimes.
Irrespective of. These are pesky particulars. Jurors are being instructed to gloss over them. Nevertheless it will get worse.
In a call that ought to shock any respectable jurist, Merchan ruled that jurors would not have to agree unanimously on the secondary crime Trump allegedly meant to commit. In his zeal to wrongfully convict, the decide has torn up a elementary proper embedded in Constitutional rules.
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that unanimity in jury verdicts is required beneath the Sixth and Seventh Amendments. That requirement extends to all points, stated the excessive court docket. To seek out somebody responsible, jurors should at all times agree —with out dissent— on each essential component of the purported crime. That is an indispensable function of jury trials.
But, it has inexplicably vanished on this case.
District Legal professional Alvin Bragg has disadvantaged Trump of a good trial by robbing him of his due course of rights assured beneath the Fourteenth Modification. Is anybody actually stunned?
This case was by no means about criminality or constancy to the legislation. That was a grotesque pretext.
Bragg’s scheme was to govern the authorized system by bringing specious prison fees to wreck or delegitimize Trump’s candidacy for president. It’s traditional “lawfare” —weaponizing statutes not as a result of the legislation has been damaged however as a result of the accused poses a political risk.
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However the actual risk is present in unscrupulous prosecutors like Alvin Bragg who’ve forsaken their obligation to see that justice is completed. Armed with immense energy, they’ve change into a legislation unto themselves. Creating the phantasm of wrongdoing to annul Trump is the tip that justifies any means.
The legendary U.S. Supreme Court docket Justice Louis Brandeis put it greatest when he stated, “The best risks to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by males of zeal.” That description suits Alvin Bragg like a glove. Underneath shade of legislation, he seeks to oppress.
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And the place legislation ends, tyranny begins.
It’s now as much as the jury to right a manifest injustice.