So Trump v. Bragg, Round One, is concluded. No big surprises. As we predicted here, Trump was convicted on all counts, within a week of going to the jury (yes, I know I hedged when Robert Costello entered the picture. Alas, if only Merchan had allowed Costello to actually testify).
So now what?
Come July, Trump will be locked up, in some form or another. Here’s what to expect.
There are two reasons the Dems need Trump either under house arrest or in jail:
To keep him away from campaigning in key areas; and
The optic of nominating a candidate who is incarcerated.
First, understand that there is no way Merchan and the cabal who orchestrated all this — Bragg, Colangelo, the White House (not Biden, but someone around him — he doesn’t have the wit for this) — went through all this to let Trump roam the country talking to rallies about how he was unfairly prosecuted.
In the run-up to the election, Trump could take his roadshow to Detroit, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Atlanta — swing state cities with large minority populations — and proclaim: “the criminal justice did me — just as they’ve done so many of you.” This will resonate, as it did in the South Bronx.
Especially when all Trump needs, according to historical figures, is double-figures in the black vote. He gets that, Biden is toast.
Second, Merchan will be unable to resist the optic of Trump either under house arrest or — more likely in my eyes — jailed somewhere. If the sentence is under a year, it would be Rikers island. If more than that, it would be an upstate prison.
Merchan has shown himself, in the way he conducted this ludicrous charade of a trial, to be a full partisan operative. It’s no accident that sentencing is scheduled for July 11 — four days before the Republicans begin their convention in Milwaukee.
Merchan will, in one form or another, lock Donald Trump away.
From where, I now believe, he will win the presidency.
Decoding The Case
There’s been no shortage of legal opining regarding the Trump case. Much of the lay media, alas, has gotten the case structure muddled. Here’s how it actually “worked”:
Trump was charged with 34 counts of Falsifying Business Records. Normally a misdemeanor, this charge bumps to a felony if it is “intended” to conceal another crime.
That second crime was, in fact, named. It was an obscure NYS Election Law — another misdemeanor — but that was still enough to bump the first 34 charges to felonies.
Now, this NYS Election Law charge has in its description that violating it must occur by “unlawful means.” And therein begins the confusion.
Judge Merchan listed in his jury instructions three ways that this “unlawful means” for the second charge could have occurred:
Violating FECA — the Federal Election Campaign Act;
A state or federal tax crime;
And — perhaps most confounding — Falsifying Business Records. Yup — the same charge we started with.
This why many of the on-air lawyers described the entire structure of the case as “circular.” It is, as the phrase goes, “a self-licking ice cream cone.”
Note that these three “means” are not actually charged — they are just the way that Trump could have intended to violate the second charge — the NYS Election law.
I’ve said it previously, but it bears reiteration here: if I had ever walked this case into a prosecutor’s office, my sanity would’ve been questioned.
I’ve been involved with the New York criminal justice world for roughly 30 years now. Please believe me when I say there are no circumstances under which this could have occurred were the accused not Donald Trump.
So congrats to Merchan, Bragg, and Matt Colangelo on further dividing the nation, damaging New York’s reputation, and shaking the world’s faith in the American justice system.
But generally, a Round One means: There will be a Round Two.
Um, Do We Have This Right?
Donald Trump: (1) Apparently has an affair with a porn star; (2) Has his lawyer handle an NDA with her (which is legal); (3) Has the lawyer pay, and then reimburses him for “legal expenses” (not only legal, but not uncommon); (4) Faces years in prison, during an election year, for the way his accountant handled it.
Got it.
Meanwhile, former FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page — you know, of the “we have an insurance policy against Trump” Crossfire Hurricane hoax — not only never faced charges — they just got this news:
Yup — Biden’s DOJ just paid them off. Exact settlement amount has not been made public.
Seems like bending the law against Donald Trump is a good career move these days.
You Talkin’ To Me?
Sorry — but yeah, Bob, we are. There really is no fool like an old fool.
Here’s my recent piece for foxnews.com, laying out the purpose behind Bobby D’s latest tragicomedy. There was more to it than meets the eye.
(click the image for the piece)
That Joe Biden would seek, at this stage of his political life, the assistance of the star of Meet The Fokkers tells you all you need to know about both of them.
We have two extremely perilous armed conflicts going on involving our allies, inflation is killing Americans’ quality of life, home ownership for the young remains unreachable due to interest rates, our cities are going to pot due to crime and social decay, our southern border doesn’t exist, and our institutions are being rotted out by DEI nonsense.
And we’ve got the star of Dirty Grandpa dictating policy. Right.
New York City Continues To Lead…
… the race to the bottom. While Alvin Bragg has been focusing his attentions on getting Trump — as he promised during his election campaign — here are some trends in NYC:
Over roughly the course of the Trump trial, Manhattan — Alvin Bragg’s jurisdiction — saw violent crime rise roughly 15%:
Elsewhere, NYC residents are up in arms over the fact that city government and George Soros (naturally) are funding a program providing free crack pipes and heroin works for druggies to use openly on the streets;
And the NYS legislature is pushing through a plan to legalize prostitution. The idea is bad enough on its own — but as usual, they haven’t even thought through how to implement this bad idea. Just as they did with legalizing marijuana — which got us 1200 illegal weed shops.
New York will be Portland soon. I’m sorry, but it’s reached this point: if you can, leave.
And finally…
First they rescinded the NY “Loitering For Prostitution” charge. Below is what the results look like on the ground, where the Albany lawmakers never venture:
(open air sex market — Queens, NY)
Just wait until they legalize the entire “profession” — with no safeguards. You think we have human trafficking issues now?
Great time to be a gangster.
They've indicted dozens of people who worked with him, hundreds who supported him, ostracized lawyers who would defend him, nearly bankrupted him with outrageous fines, crippled his ability to campaign and, now, have branded him a felon. It's not just a campaign, it's a crucifixion, or if you prefer, a 'cruci-fiction'.
The lawfare is simply unconscionable and unprecedented. And here comes a hung jury in Hunter’s Delaware gun case. A joke