Scumbag Bragg Implements the Plan to Mislead the Jury about the Charges

The payments to Cohen aren't illegal. Neither is the timing of the payments. Payment installments are also legal. You don't have to pay all your expenses before an election. You're not making any sense.

This case is about the language on the invoice (drafted by Cohen) and the memo line on the checks (paid by his bookkeeper pursuant to the invoice). That's it. That's the only alleged violation of the NY Statute. There are no other charges.

 

The question was how could a business record in 2017 affect the 2016 election. The answer is that the 2017 payments were reimbursement for costs incurred by Cohen at Trump's direction before the election. The point of paying Cohen later, and falsifying business records to pay him, was to hide what the payment was for.

 

Even if the payments were made leading up to the election the information wouldn't be public until after the election. It also doesn't have to say "settlement for affair to Stormy Daniels." Even if it was a campaign expense, which it wasn't, it would still be private on the ledger and check. You're still not making any sense.

 

After all this time, you Trumpers have made absolutely no effort to understand this case. It’s as sad as it is lazy. You really think he’s being charged with having an affair or signing an NDA? Good Christ.

 

Trump is not charged with a crime for making the payments, because making the payments is not a crime. If making the payments is not a crime, neither is the timing of the payments.

He's not charged with conspiracy, because influencing an election by legal means is not a crime.

Concealing an affair is not unlawful.
Paying for a NDA is not unlawful.

He's charge with mislabeling, and that's a misdemeanor, not a felony, and the Statute of Limitations ran out years ago.

What 'crime' are you referring to?

What laws?

I keep asking you what the other crime is that supposedly converts a misdemeanor into a felony, and you keep coming back with different versions of "I don't have to tell you."
And you're wrong. You cannot legitimately try someone without telling them the charges.

You know this,
I know this,
The American People know this.

What's the other crime?

Concealing an affair is not unlawful for those standing for election, or anyone else, for that matter.
An NDA is not unlawful for those standing for election, or anyone else, for that, matter.

The reimbursement is not unlawful. Planning a lawful act prior to the election isn't unlawful.

This was Trump's own money, and he has no limits on what he can contribute to his own campaign.

You also know that the FEC and DOJ who actually have jurisdiction, investigated all this, and not only didn't criminally charge Trump, they didn't even levy a civil fine.

Bragg isn't naming the campaign violation, because there isn't one.

 

Well, if you looked Fox's coverage today for example, coverage of the court goings on was almost non existent except for the occasional legal pundit, say Turley or someone else for example, giving an opinion. What I found stunningly funny, when Trump was under impeachment, Turley was billed as a constitutional expert and this week he was being billed as a criminal defense expert/attorney. I thought that was richly ironic.

 

I'm not sure what you're confused about, so let's go back to the basics. It was 2016, and Trump had recently fended off bad press about the Access Hollywood tape. He cooperated with Pecker and Cohen to try to prevent more damaging stories from coming out before the election. It's fine to do this, but in order to make sure it happened, he planned to falsify business records in order to pay Cohen back for fronting the money to keep a lid on the stories. The whole conspiracy on how to affect the election occurred before the election, even if some elements of its execution, i.e. paying Cohen back in an illegal way, came after the election.

 

Please tell us what illegal activity you know of.

 

That just a misdemeanor and has nothing to do with the election.

 

You first, I'm waiting for the amicus brief submission.

 

Cohen wasn't paid back in an illegal way. There was nothing illegal about paying Cohen back. In fact, if Cohen was paid back, the hush money payment made by Cohen wasn't a campaign contribution and he was wrongfully convicted of making an excessive campaign contribution.

The ONLY illegal activity was falsifying the business records, felony. Felonies have a two year statute of limitations in New York.

 

Again, you're not making any sense. There is no reason that "legal expense" vs "legal retainer" on the memo line of the checks would have made any difference, let alone when it was paid out. There's also nothing legally wrong with Cohen or anyone else "fronting" the cost of something. On top of all that, there is nothing illegal with paying to "keep the lid" on something except for the fact that Stormy Daniels engaged in extortion which likely was illegal. You can't threaten to harm someone's reputation unless they secretly agree to pay you a lot of money.

 

You can't. We all knew that...lol

The reason you can't, is because there was no crime being concealed by the falsified business records (if they were even falsified).

 

It's how the payments were made. Falsifying business records to make a payment is a crime.

He promoted his re-election ultimately by falsifying business records while paying Cohen back. This is a crime. He conspired with Cohen to do this prior to the election.

Yes. There is almost certainly a way he could have paid hush money without falsifying business records. I know that calling it "personal expenses" and paying out of his own pocket would have been better. Then the only prosecution avenue would have been campaign finance laws, but as I've said that angle is weaker to begin with so charges may never have come.

In New York, it is a crime to promote a political campaign with unlawful means. Falsifying business records is an example of unlawful means.

Again: NYS Open Legislation | NYSenate.gov is the easiest to explain and is enough on its own: § 17-152. Conspiracy to promote or prevent election. Any two or more
persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to
a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by
one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 17-152. Conspiracy to promote or prevent election. Any two or more
persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to
a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by
one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

The reimbursement as executed and planned was unlawful. A lawful reimbursement was possible, though. It just wasn't what was done or planned.

Good, then had he put it as "personal expenses" to Cohen, it would have been fine (legally as far as I know, that is). That's not what he did.

More evidence that if he had just called it personal expenses, he would be legally fine. I mean, morally it would still be reprehensible, but legally he could have gotten away with it.

 

Falsifying the business records didn't promote the election, nor the campaign.

 

If you think you have all the info and some legal mumbo jumbo spin, put up or (you know what ) and submit an amicus brief to SCOTUS or the appeals court. As for your legal "reaches", good luck with that since this case is going full steam and Trump's not appealing to a higher court on the grounds you claim. Humm, I wonder why?

 

It was falsifying business records because it wasn't a legal retainer for 2017. He crossed the line from influencing an election, to illegally influencing an election, by falsifying business records.

 

Yes it did because it was a part of the plan with Cohen and Pecker before the election. It was one of the conditions under which they operated to kill the stories, which were killed to help him win the election.

 

The business records weren't public information during the campaign. The business records were never going to be made public. You're not making sense...lol.

 

Who was unindicted coconspirator " individual 1" in the Cohen criminal trial?

 

That was a Federal trial, enforcing Federal laws. You sure you want to go there?...lol

 

Absolutely, where did the crime take place that Cohen was federally charged for? Are you suggesting that if the feds don't pursue a crime a state can't?

 

It's really that hard to understand? Killing the stories was the goal to help the election. Planning to falsify business records was a part of the plan to kill the stories. Could they have killed the stories without falsifying business records? Yes. Would there be a greater chance of their scheme being discovered later had they not falsified business records? Perhaps. It's plausible that one or more parties would not have agreed to the plan to kill the stories if not for the element of falsifying business records. In any case, it's how it was planned, and as planned and executed it was illegal.

 

Killing the stories isn't illegal.

Falsifying the business records is STILL just a misdemeanor.

 

"Crossed the line from influencing an election, to illegally influencing..." What does that even mean? He was a candidate for office. Everything he did was to influence the election. Influencing an election is not illegal. There's no statute criminalizing "influencing an election." We have an entire federal commission who oversees election crimes in regard to federal elections. No sanction, no fines, no referrals. They investigated it and found nothing in the criminal or civil statutes that was violated.

You have to articulate a criminal statute that he violated and specifically state the evidence that he he violated it.