The case against former President Donald Trump in Manhattan is facing doubts because the prosecutor might be focusing more on going after Trump than on the facts of the case.
The trial has started, but it seems like District Attorney Alvin Bragg might be more interested in getting back at Trump than in looking at all the evidence.
One important fact is that the money paid to Michael Cohen was doubled to cover taxes. This shows that Trump might have been trying to follow the law and didn’t have bad intentions.
The district attorney’s statement doesn’t talk much about the fact that the payments to Cohen also included a bonus. If the idea is that the payments weren’t for legal expenses, then what about the bonus for Cohen’s legal work?
The case also says it’s a crime not to tell the public about damaging information before an election. But this information was already out there in a radio interview and a blog from years before. So, how is it Trump’s fault if voters didn’t know?
The prosecutor says Trump should have used campaign money for the payment, but if he did, he could have been in trouble with the Federal Election Commission. Plus, Trump had personal reasons for making the payment.
The prosecutor also doesn’t mention that the campaign expense filing wouldn’t have been due until after the election. And there were no victims here, so it’s hard to see why Trump would be charged.
The case also relies on Cohen’s guilty plea to federal charges, but just because one person pleads guilty doesn’t mean someone else is guilty too.
In the end, it seems like the prosecutor might be targeting Trump because he was running for president. This isn’t fair, and it goes against what Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson warned about many years ago.
Now, a jury will decide if Trump is guilty or not.
