Do Critics of Trump's Indictment Have a Point? Good advice from Nick Kristof

[applegrove]

OPINION
NICHOLAS KRISTOF

Do Critics of Trump’s Indictment Have a Point?
April 5, 2023, 6:24 p.m. ET
4 MIN READ

By Nicholas Kristof, Opinion Columnist

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/05/opinion/trump-charges-presumed-innocent.html

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Republican leaders and Fox News personalities have erupted at the arrest of Donald Trump, so let’s consider some of their concerns.

“I believe the New York prosecutor has stretched to reach felony criminal charges in order to fit a political agenda.” — Senator Mitt Romney

Is this indictment a legal stretch? It may be. Even some sharp critics of Trump find the case thin. We liberals should recognize our biases and tread carefully.

Paying hush money to a porn star is not inherently a crime. To get a felony conviction, District Attorney Alvin Bragg must show that business records were falsified to advance a second crime that for now is not charged. It may be a violation of state or federal election law or perhaps of state tax laws (one of the few surprises this week).

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[applegrove]

1. I can see those with MAGA relatives getting through to them by being

serious instead of argumentative.

[FakeNoose]

2. Personally I was hoping the Georgia indictments would have come out first

Both of them are solid cases with mountains of evidence, but the Georgia indictments will be for things he did while in office. For that reason they have more weight.

[Silent Type]

3. Fareed Zakaria said "They got the right man, but for wrong charges."

He said that after listing many of trump’s crimes.

If one of the other investigations yields an indictment, this one will likely fade away. Heck, the next court appearance is not until December.

[W_HAMILTON]

4. Fuck that. All the right-wingers and namby-pamby equivocators can ask themselves...

...what the fuck would they be saying if it had been, say, Clinton that had an extramarital affair and paid for the person to shut up during a campaign so they could get elected and then charged the expense to The Clinton Foundation?

Right-wingers heads would fucking explode and all these hand-wringing types in the so-called middle would have no problems declaring their guilt.

And how the fuck is it a surprise to any thinking person that this would have been a violation of state tax laws? It's a personal payment that was recorded on the books of a business so that it could be deducted it from income to lower their tax liability. Of course it's a fucking violation of state tax law (and federal tax law while we're at it -- looking at you Garland and the IRS).

[emulatorloo]

5. +++++

[orangecrush]

8. +1

[tavernier]

6. No.

[Johonny]

7. I believe the AG has another case that shows a distinct pattern of the Trump family

falsifying business records. AGs rarely bring cases to trial they don't think they can win.

[Eugene]

9. It's like nailing Al Capone for tax evasion.

He did the fraud, but the charges are beatable. It is being compared to John Edwards' alleged campaign finance violations.