{"id":2219553,"date":"2024-04-12T15:26:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-12T19:26:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alvin-bragg-kicks-off-another-frenzied-lawfare-trial-with-weakest-case-against-trump-yet\/"},"modified":"2024-04-12T15:30:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-12T19:30:39","slug":"alvin-bragg-kicks-off-another-frenzied-lawfare-trial-with-weakest-case-against-trump-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alvin-bragg-kicks-off-another-frenzied-lawfare-trial-with-weakest-case-against-trump-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Alvin Bragg launches a new high-profile legal battle with a weak case against Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Falvin-bragg-kicks-off-another-frenzied-lawfare-trial-with-weakest-case-against-trump-yet%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2219553&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The upcoming trial\u2063 of former President Donald \u2064Trump,\u2064 labeled as the weakest of four <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bidens-supreme-court-nominee-a-slam-dunk-for-democrats\/\" title=\"Biden\u2019s Supreme Court Nominee A Slam Dunk For Democrats\">politically charged cases<\/a>, initiates amid \u200cescalating legal battles. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg&#8217;s contentious case against Trump faces skepticism from legal experts, suggesting it lacks a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/former-governors-combine-to-call-for-once-trump-attorney-jenna-ellis-to-be-disbarred\/\" title=\"Ex-governors unite, demand disbarment of former Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis\">solid legal foundation<\/a>. The \u200ctrial unfolds in \u200ba highly polarized New York setting, questioning the fairness of the judicial process.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-content\">\n<p>The weakest of the four politically motivated criminal cases against former President Donald Trump goes to trial on Monday, as the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/04\/09\/last-week-in-lawfare-land-what-to-know-about-each-legal-crusade-against-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">left\u2019s lawfare season<\/a> heats up. <\/p>\n<p>Legal experts on both sides of the political coin agree that Manhattan District Attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/03\/30\/democratic-manhattan-da-alvin-bragg-has-a-bad-case-of-bias\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Alvin Bragg\u2019s<\/a> trumped up case against Trump stretches to snapping the thin legal premise the Democrat is pushing. No reasonable jury in America would convict anyone of the charges laid out against the Republican Party\u2019s presidential candidate, nationally recognized attorneys say. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2-long d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1300305017\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1379703300879-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f167727ac001934ccb3615fec8d4ce30 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-f167727ac001934ccb3615fec8d4ce30\"><\/div>\n<p>But this is New York City. With four liberals per square inch, Trump could expect a more impartial jury pool in Havana. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Alvin Bragg had charged Donald Trump with illegally eating a ham sandwich, they would find him guilty,\u201d constitutional law expert <a href=\"https:\/\/www.heritage.org\/staff\/hans-von-spakovsky\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hans von Spakovsky<\/a> told me this week. \u201cHe is going to get a totally biased jury.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>How did we get here? Short answer: Politics. Longer answer, a pornography peddler and a \u201cnovel legal theory\u201d that metamorphosized a bogus state misdemeanor charge of falsifying business records into an incredible federal election law felony. Thirty-four separate felony counts, to be precise, carrying a maximum combined sentence of <a href=\"http:\/\/maximum%20combined%20sentence%20of%20136%20years\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">136 years in prison.<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Bragg, who on the campaign trail bragged about suing Trump \u201cmore than a hundred times\u201d gets the first crack at the left\u2019s No. 1 political enemy on the criminal charges front. And the Democrat prosecutor is throwing everything he\u2019s got \u2014 even if he\u2019s got very little \u2014 at Trump to deliver a prosecution against President Joe Biden\u2019s November opponent. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6c653452d47e74b76e560a3b2169c3c2 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-6\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-6c653452d47e74b76e560a3b2169c3c2\"><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Legless Lawfare<\/h2>\n<p>The saga began years ago. Aging pornographer Stormy Daniels claimed to have had an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump has denied the allegations. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump\u2019s former attorney <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/19\/witness-selection-and-last-minute-docs-dump-whats-new-in-braggs-get-trump-hush-money-lawfare\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michael Cohen <\/a>paid Daniels $130,000 to sign a nondisclosure agreement about the alleged affair. The money did not come from campaign funds. Cohen, who covered the payments up front, sought reimbursement from the Trump Organization. He noted the invoiced reimbursements as \u201clegal services\u201d as opposed to something more direct like \u201creimbursement for settlement payment re: extra-marital sex,\u201d as law experts John Yoo and John Shu <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/alvin-braggs-case-against-trump-should-have-been-dismissed-opinion-1870620\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">put it.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bragg, as von Spakovsky wrote upon the indictment, has elevated a New York State misdemeanor charge of falsifying business records (a suspect charge as well) by allegedly doing so to cover up a federal crime of hiding campaign expenditures. Trump did so, Bragg contends, \u201cin order to influence the 2016 presidential election.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose claiming the settlement with Stormy Daniels was a campaign-related expense and a violation of campaign finance law don\u2019t have much of a leg to stand on,\u201d von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commissioner and Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailysignal.com\/2018\/05\/03\/rudy-giuliani-is-right-the-nuisance-settlement-with-stormy-daniels-didnt-violate-campaign-finance-law\/?_gl=1*197a9qx*_ga*MTg3MTIyNTc3NC4xNzEyNjkyNDAw*_ga_W14BT6YQ87*MTcxMjg3NjU4MC4yLjAuMTcxMjg3NjU4MC42MC4wLjA.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> in 2018. \u201cThis is particularly so given that the Justice Department tried to make a similar legal claim against former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards without success.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Nondisclosure Agreements Aren\u2019t Illegal<\/h2>\n<p>As Yoo and Shu explained in their February <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/alvin-braggs-case-against-trump-should-have-been-dismissed-opinion-1870620\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">op-ed<\/a>, prior to Bragg\u2019s breathless pursuit, Southern District of New York prosecutors and the FEC looked into Trump\u2019s so-called campaign violations. Both \u201cdeclined to pursue the case because Trump used his own money, not campaign finance money, and because reimbursing someone for a hush-money payment does not fit the definition of an in-kind campaign contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0719958ebf32fa5485fb0b560e773218 fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-10\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-0719958ebf32fa5485fb0b560e773218\"><\/div>\n<p>\u201cIn fact, candidates do not have to disclose expenses that would have been incurred even if no campaign existed; it is highly likely that Trump would have paid Daniels regardless just to avoid any marital strife or embarrassment to himself and his family,\u201d wrote Yoo, a Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, and Shu, a legal scholar and commentator who served in the administrations of Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush.<\/p>\n<p>Federal campaign law strictly prohibits candidates from using any campaign funds for what are considered personal expenses. Say you buy a car and six months later you decide to run for office. You can\u2019t use your monthly car payments as a campaign expense. Let\u2019s face it, Biden\u2019s weaponized U.S. Department of Justice would have been all over Trump had the former president run afoul of the law. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cHad Donald Trump used campaign funds to enter into a settlement into payment with this woman the DOJ would have gone after him,\u201d von Spakovsky said. <\/p>\n<p>The settlement has been described as \u201chush money.\u201d But there are a long list of famous leftists who have demanded such nondisclosure agreements. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thethings.com\/taylor-swift-took-a-strict-nda-rule-out-of-tom-cruises-playbook-regarding-her-employees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Taylor Swift,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/gossip\/la-et-mg-justin-bieber-party-nda-non-disclosure-agreement-3-million-20131118-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Justin Bieber<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vice.com\/en\/article\/rpdjjz\/love-contract-celebrity-miley-cyrus-kanye-west\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Miley Cyrus<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/golf\/story\/_\/id\/37673885\/judge-rejects-attempt-tiger-woods-ex-girlfriend-erica-herman-nullify-nda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tiger Woods,<\/a> just to name a new. Remember when Rep. Nancy Pelosi called fellow Democrat colleague John Conyers an \u201cicon\u201d after the Michigan congressman resigned under a cloud of sexual misconduct allegations? Pelosi took quite a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2017\/11\/29\/nancy-pelosi-kathleen-rice-john-conyers-sexual-harassment-270483\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tongue lashing<\/a> for lionizing a man whose aide Marion Brown claimed violated her body and propositioned her for sex. Guess who was forced to sign a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2017\/11\/29\/nancy-pelosi-kathleen-rice-john-conyers-sexual-harassment-270483\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">nondisclosure agreement?<\/a> Brown broke the NDA to tell her story. <\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Double System of Justice\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Of course, the statute of limitations on the alleged crimes has expired, but partisan Bragg is pushing New York\u2019s \u201ctolling\u201d provision that stops the clock when the suspect is out of state. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut it\u2019s hard to believe\u00a0the legislature would have intended \u2026 that\u00a0serving as president of the United States counts as\u00a0being out of state,\u201d David Shapiro, a financial crimes specialist and former FBI special agent, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/world\/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-1.6788143\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told <\/a>CBC News. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis case is going to have serious, serious problems,\u201d\u00a0Mark Bederow,\u00a0a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/president-trump-please-pardon-jon-woods-a-victim-of-process-crimes-like-michael-flynn\/\" title=\"President Trump, Please Pardon Jon Woods, a Victim of Process Crimes Like Michael Flynn\">criminal defense attorney<\/a> and\u00a0former New York City\u00a0prosecutor, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/world\/donald-trump-stormy-daniels-hush-money-1.6788143\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> CBC News before the grand jury came back more than a year ago with its indictment against Trump. He said Bragg\u2019s decision to pursue formal charges was \u201cstunning.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Yoo and Shu shoot down Bragg\u2019s assertion that had the Trump campaign disclosed the \u201cin-kind\u201d payment before the election it would have affected the outcome. Trump lost deep blue New York by 20-plus points. So he would have lost by more votes? Besides, the payment would not have been required to be reported until months after the election. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAgain, imagine that a district attorney decided to charge [Secretary of State] <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/biden-campaign-blinken-orchestrated-intel-letter-discredit-hunter-biden-laptop-story-ex-cia-official-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tony Blinken<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/topic\/hunter-biden\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hunter Biden<\/a> for an illegal, undisclosed in-kind campaign contribution when they lied in October 2020 to conceal that the abandoned laptop actually belonged to Hunter (\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/f\/?id=00000175-4393-d7aa-af77-579f9b330000\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">earmarks of a Russian information operation<\/a>\u201d),\u201d the legal experts wrote. <\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s difficult to see Bragg\u2019s case as anything but the naked political prosecution it is. But a Manhattan grand jury agreed to this insane indictment. What are the chances a Manhattan trial jury won\u2019t convict the man the left loves to hate? <\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s a price to pay for this political show trial, and some Democrats are smart enough to know the bill could be quite costly.\u00a0In this case, exposing America\u2019s double system of justice will likely do more to help Trump than to hurt him this November. <\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fb8c9ea47330d700fe6d613611e03d52 fdrlst__b89e9-after-post-content\" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-fb8c9ea47330d700fe6d613611e03d52\"><\/div>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">    \t\t\t\t\t   \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The least compelling of the politically charged cases against ex-President Donald Trump begins trial next Monday, marking the escalation of legal battles from the left. Legal analysts, regardless of political affiliation, view Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg&#8217;s case as a strained attempt to push the boundaries of a weak legal argument to its breaking point<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2219554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-12-at-12.53.14-PM-1024x526.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2219553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Screenshot-2024-04-12-at-12.53.14-PM-1024x526.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2219553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2219553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2219554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2219553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2219553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2219553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}