Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States, is the first former president in our nation's history to be indicted for a crime. The indictment is under seal, but news outlets report that he is charged with a felony for paying hush money to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford. One of his attorneys confirmed the indictment to the press, and he has been notified of the charges. Reports are that he will travel from Mar-a-Lago to New York City next week for surrender to law enforcement and his arraignment in criminal court.
The $130,000 payment to Clifford was part of a larger "catch and kill" arrangement with David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer in which potentially scandalous stories about the presidential candidate were to be sold to his newspaper and then suppressed or "killed" by not publishing them (e.g. Playboy's Karen McDougal). The lawyer for Michael Cohen, Lanny Davis, told reporters that people will be surprised at the degree of corroborative evidence of Trump's multiple crimes.
The same fact pattern was investigated by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, but that investigation did not reach an indictment of Trump because Willam Barr was then US Attorney General, and a DOJ policy of not indicting sitting presidents. In the report on their investigation, the prosecutors referred to Michael Cohen's unindicted co-conspirator as "Individual One". They did conclude that Individual One organized and directed the hush money scheme. Whether the Manhattan DA is using the facts discovered by federal prosecutors, which support a federal conspiracy crime by Individual One, as a justification to elevate a state misdemeanor business records violation to a felony remains to be seen. Alvin Bragg's office has brought this type of business records case against numerous ordinary defendants. The unprecedented case against a former president has nothing to do with "radical left Democrats" or "politically motivated witch hunts", but everything to do with the rule of law and NOT the rule of one deranged man.
Trumpillini promised "death and destruction" if he is indicted. Actually, his indictment and conviction is required to save what is left of America democracy. The death and destruction in our Republic has been at his hands. The fact that the American people elected such an outlandish and bigoted demagogue is in itself an indictment of our culture and politics. People loved Archie Bunker. White supremacy is a deep and perhaps indelible stain on the American character. Given the arc of our modern history since the Civil War, Donald Trump or someone like him was inevitable. As we approach mid-century when whites are no longer a majority ethnic group, some are feeling unconfortable in an America not familiar to them. Be it avoidable COVID-19 deaths or the destruction at our nation's Capitol instigated by him, the Ochre Menace bears responsibility. His accountability is long overdue.
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| credit: Darkow, Columbus Missourian |