I had to step away, and just able to respond. It’s not clear what the “other crimes” are. Not explicitly at least. Trump was charged with just one crime (34 times). Having had some time to think about it, the “other crime” is almost certainly federal/non-NY state law. This is just a deduction. If the “other crime” was NY state law, then why was it not also charged? If it was NY and not charged, that ain’t good. It’s likely because they can’t charge it (because it’s a federal crime).
However, I’ll wait for some legal eagles I trust to weigh in and see what they say (or read the rest of the thread to see if it’s been addressed, ha!).
Thanks. I hadn’t seen that. It definitely makes it clear it’s NY law.
But now I just wonder, if Trump violated those NY laws, why not charge them? It’s possible Trump didn’t violate them but just participated in some fashion and that’s enough to get the bump to felony for the misdemeanor business falsification law he was charged with.
Maybe. Bragg and his team must has carefully considered all this. While careful consideration doesn’t guarantee a mistake-free conclusion, I wouldn’t rush to the conclusion Bragg messed up.
I’m also wondering about whether Cohen overpaid his NY taxes by declaring reimbursed expenses to be income. That was done as part of what looks to me to be — maybe not in a legal sense, but in the meaning of the word — a conspiracy. But — if I am right about the overpayment — is doing that illegal?
The best way to answer this question is to read the standard jury instructions for the charge, which will explain what the prosecutor has to prove, but I’m struggling to find them online. Can anybody else go all Sherlock Holmes on this?
ETA: here’s the link, but I’m not successful with the download on my phone.
Hmmm. I distinctly recall hearing that, because at the office of the presidency is unique – there’s only one at a time, ever – only the sitting president holds the title. Former presidents are referred to as “former”, or by their last office – Governor Carter, Senator Obama.
IMO, Trump is getting too much free publicity with his rambling speech.
He picked the Prime Time hour to spew his blather.
Reminiscent of 2015-2016 when many news outlets kept him in the spotlight and resulted in sucking up all of the oxygen in the room.
A clever trick, but one would hope the networks would be savvy enough to stop this.
Just want to make clear I don’t think Bragg messed up or anything like that. I’m just thinking this through out loud is all to understand it.
I do think, legally, to get the felony bump, it is uncharted and is open to dismissal/proper appeal. I don’t think it’s a mistake to charge it, just difficult.
I mean, Bragg has 34 slam dunk misdemeanors. I personally don’t think a misdemeanor is worth all this though.
MSNBC says no. It’s enough that Trump intended to accomplish something that would be felonious, whether or not he accomplished it. So no, the felony does not have to be proven.
I haven’t seen any crowd estimates of pro or anti-Trump demonstrators. I did see a video of MTG getting heckled out of town with some superb stereo-typical NYC language. I wonder if Trump was expecting throngs of adoring fans.