One of the most conspicuous aspects of the 34-count indictment of Donald Trump was the lack of an actual crime. According to the indictment, Trump attempted to conceal a crime by “falsifying business records” — and in the 34 times that accusation is repeated, not once does the indictment say what that crime is.
“I think this indictment — even before you get to the statute of limitations and whether he’s got jurisdiction to enforce federal law — I would dismiss it on its face because it fails to state a crime,” said former assistant U.S. attorney Andrew McCarthy on Fox News Tuesday. “Here, it fails to state a crime 34 times!”
Related: Why the Trump Indictment Is Worse Than We Thought
Constitutional expert Jonathan Turley agreed.
“We now have the indictment, and it is basically what many of us anticipated,” Turley wrote on his website. “It is a series of stacked counts of falsifying business records for the purpose of influencing the election. The indictment seems to address the lack of legal precedent with a lack of specificity on the underlying ‘secondary’ felony. Bragg has done nothing more than replicated the same flawed theory dozens of times.”
“This is where math and the law meet,” he added. “If you multiply any number by zero, it is still zero.”
The lack of an underlying crime in the indictment was curious even to the mainstream media. During his post-arraignment press conference, Bragg was asked why the second alleged concealed crime was missing from the indictment.
“Let me say as an initial matter that the indictment doesn’t specify it because the law does not so require,” Bragg explained.
What kind of explanation is that? As experts have previously stated, when bringing charges against a former president and current presidential candidate, the evidence must be foolproof. Every detail must be carefully examined and accounted for. Bragg’s statement that he did not specify the crime because it was unnecessary is an unacceptable excuse and raises serious concerns.
“In my remarks, I mentioned a couple of laws which I will highlight again now,” Bragg continued. “The first is New York state election law, which makes it a crime to conspire to promote a candidacy by unlawful means. I further indicated a number of unlawful means, including additional false statements, including statements that were planned to be made to tax authorities. I also noted the federal election law cap on contribution limits.”
But that weak explanation didn’t satisfy the reporter, who asked a rather obvious question: “But, why weren’t there — those crimes charged?”
Bragg’s answer was, to say the least, garbage: “Well, we — we… I’m not going to go into our deliberate process on what was brought — the charges that were brought were the ones that were brought — the evidence and the law is the basis for those decisions.”
Alvin Bragg was able to elevate the 34 counts to the level of a felony by saying they were to “conceal another crime” but didn’t include the crime he claims was being covered up in the indictment because “the law does not so require”
Sounds weakpic.twitter.com/NhNedGkEcQ
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) April 4, 2023
I’m starting to wonder if Bragg even knows what the underlying crime is, or if there even is one. His evasive response and failure to indict Trump for this supposed underlying offense suggests that he doesn’t want to risk weakening his already flimsy case. Bragg is undoubtedly aware that his every move is being scrutinized, especially since legal experts have been publicly denouncing his case against Trump for quite some time. Unfortunately, this is the sort of justice system one can expect under a Democratic administration.
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