(3-minute read)
Main takeaway.
Nothing is going to happen very fast. There will be motions galore. Filings and counter filings. The next scheduled appearance for Trump isn’t until December.[1] There will be a lot of headlines after the motions to dismiss are made. This won’t be THE story that makes the headlines like the indictments to come.
Just an icebreaker.
Ho hum
I know that a lot of people were expecting a lot bigger spectacle when former President Trump got arrested in Manhattan. The felonies that Trump is charged with just aren’t all that exciting or attention grabbing though. The indictment document (charges) is a boring read.[2] Had Trump simply made the payoffs in the open they wouldn’t have even been crimes. The attempted cover up (and concomitant juggling of funds) is the crime. They lied about what, as it turns out, they could have told the truth about because his MAGA base just doesn’t care about his character or lack of it.
There’s a certain legal elegance in the simplicity of what Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged. Financial entries (business records) were made that weren’t truthful. Those payments also violated New York state election law.
Pretty cut and dried.
Fleshed out.
The Indictment is a different filing than the Statement of Facts (SOF).[3] The SOF is much more interesting. That’s where the real story is laid out. The story behind the financial transactions that covered up the payments to kill the story about Trump’s affair with a porn star. His infidelity is now laid out in legal paperwork just like President Clinton’s infidelity was.[4] The difference in Clinton’s civil case is that there was no coverup. After 4 ½ years of legal wrangling Clinton paid his accuser, Paula Jones, $850,00 himself without admitting guilt.[5]
Out in the open.
Spa by your man!
Where is Melania in all this? Think she believes Trump’s denials of having affairs? Stormy Daniels had a one-night stand. Karen McDougal on the other hand claims to have had a months long affair with Trump.[6] She’s “Woman 1” in the SOF. There are 18 other women minimum who have accused Trump of engaging in sexual impropriety.[7]
Poor Melania has been absent for the most part as this legal saga plays out in the press. Do we know when she has her spa days? It may be that she just had scheduling conflicts. Or maybe she just doesn’t care. Trump having affairs isn’t really anything new. He’s done it throughout his various marriages.[8] If we’re to believe him as he described himself in the Access Hollywood tape.[9]
Crime Family tradition.
Trump is a traditionalist of sorts. In 1927 Daddy Fred Trump was arrested at a KKK rally that ended in violence.[11] And he was arrested again in 1976 over housing code violations in Maryland.[12] But the really big one is when the Trump Organization (TO) was found guilty of 17 criminal counts of tax fraud and other crimes.[13] TO Chief Financial Officer Allen Weisselberg did time in jail. The TO was fined $1.5 million. NY Attorney General Letitia James has a $250 million dollar lawsuit against the TO for tax fraud.[14] That’s due for trial starting in Oct of this year.
With great power comes great responsibility.[15]
[1] https://thehill.com/homenews/3934216-trump-december-court-date-2024-primaries/
[2] https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-Indictment.pdf
[3] https://www.manhattanda.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Donald-J.-Trump-SOF.pdf
[4] https://www.politifact.com/article/2023/mar/21/how-bill-clintons-settlement-with-paula-jones-diff/
[5] https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/jones111498.htm
[6] https://www.washingtonpost.comtime/nation/2023/04/05/who-is-karen-mcdougal-trump/
[7] https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/03/20/meet-19-women-who-claim-affairs-trump-accuse-him-unwanted-advances/443685002/
[8] https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-melania-stormy-daniels-affairs-marriages-timeline-2018-3?op=1#in-september-2005-trump-was-caught-on-tape-telling-access-hollywood-host-billy-bush-that-he-was-able-to-grab-women-by-the-p-y-because-when-youre-a-star-they-let-you-do-it-10
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSC8Q-kR44o
[10] https://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/us-politics/melania-trump-missing-from-donald-trumps-speech-at-maralago/news-story/0b553ed2caf005809d7550fa9a75e423
[11] https://thehill.com/homenews/3934216-trump-december-court-date-2024-primaries/
[12] https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/04/04/fred-trump-arrests/
[13] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-organization-trial-verdict-tax-fraud-charges/
[14] https://nypost.com/2022/11/22/trial-date-set-for-2023-in-ags-suit-against-trump-org/
[15] https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/07/23/great-power/
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