To be clear, it is not a hush money trial. It is an election interference trial. Hush money is not actually criminal in and if itself, the fact that it was used in relation to influencing an election is what makes it a crime. It is election interference.
No, you still have it wrong. It’s the fact that it was business fraud and ultimately came from campaign dollars.
Trump could have avoided literally alll of this simply by paying cash out of pocket.
The payment of hush money would have counted as a campaign contribution regardless of the source. If he paid it personally it would have been reportable. If Cohen paid it it would have been reportable. If a third party paid it it would have been reportable.
The reason it would have been reportable is because it provided benefit to the campaign. Covering up negative news is a benefit to the campaign, so if he paid it himself it would still have been a campaign contribution he would have to report.
By covering up the payment he is taking or making a campaign contribution in violation of FEC rules. By suppressing the story of his affair with Stormy Daniels he is contributing to his campaign and failure to disclose makes this a crime.
The fact that he committed a crime by failing to report a campaign contribution is what makes the payment itself part of a felony rather than a misdemeanor. In New York law they do not have to prove the specific electoral crime itself for this set of falsifications of business records to be related to a felony level crime and therefore felonious. The jury instructions approved by the judge specifically say that the jurors can find that he violated one of several options of law for raising this to a felony.
The problem is people on juries can (try) to disregard instructions. I served on one and was NOT the foreperson and yet was the only one to speak up when some insisted on raising hypothetical motives when the judge had specifically instructed us only to consider presented evidence.
“No, you cannot guess as to what occurred” I had to repeatedly say.
I worry that one or more jurors will rationalize instead of fulfill their sworn duty. I hope not but….
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Yeah I am confused by the amount of likes but iirc there's three significant cases:
Wasn't there a 4th case, something about New York?
You are thinking about the real estate fraud. He over valued properties for loans and under valued them for insurance purposes
Yes there was another suit against the trump org in NY for fraud, but it's basically over, a judgement has been entered and last thing I've heard is that he was trying to secure a bond and the latest bond company got rejected by the court because something something not offering collateral.
I have no clue what the current status of this case is.
It's been so long, it's like taking off a pair of shoes that are too tight...
As with the other 45,762 rulings against Trump:
...blah, blah, blah, blah....smells ike a rose, increase in polls....
I don't understand the logic of why corruption makes someone their more ideal candidate. Is America just full of idiots? Whats the psychology behind that
Because following the rules means that people feel like they don't control their own lives, and then seeing someone so flippantly ignore basic obligations like regular human decency is cathartic.
I have a data point from two of my relatives who both agree they want to see the ship go down. At least one votes in bad faith for whomever they think will cause more harm to the country they feel did not hold up its part of the social contract. Toddlers lashing out much like the orange one.
You stupid fucking monkey brain, you are on that ship! Your overweight, diabetic ass will not be surviving the looter wars.
It is full of idiots that have been conditioned over 30 years to get their news from Fawx and only Fawx and that news source picked up on Newt Gingrich's playbook: demonizing the otherside and drive a wedge into communities so they don't notice the billionaires picking our pockets and stealing our country.
They also have their local paster who is not only preying on their kids to bang them but is also steering them right into facism
Cults. Look at any cult. The police, military, religions, patriotism, Branch Davidion, etc. All cults, all full of people who shouldn't be part of it because it's against their best interests.
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