If you can’t dazzle them with logic, then baffle them with bullshit

While we’re in the twilight zone between a pre Trump indictment world and a post Trump indictment world, I just wanted to share a little something with you to look for tomorrow, or whenever the Trump Manhattan indictments come down.

I have written previously that I find it hard to believe that Bragg is going to go through all of this trouble in becoming the first prosecutor to charge a former sitting President to do it on what is basically a cheesedick misdemeanor for falsifying company records and then using convoluted logic to show that that misdemeanor was done in the furtherance of another crime, making it a felony. To me, that seems like charging Charlie Manson with illegal possession of a knife.

But as we get closer to the indictments being announced, despite the claims from the GOP Trumptards that this is some flimsy, basically unknown bullshit charge that Bragg is slapping on Trump, the opposite is actually true. In fact, the Manhattan DA uses all the time. And they use it because that simple misdemeanor charge makes it possible to pile multiple other criminal charges on top of it, making it a felony too. And they do it because New York criminal law is written to make it an easy pile on case.

When the indictments are finally unsealed and announced, my guess would be to look for somewhere between 12-16 indictments, if not more. I know, that sounds insane, but the devil is in the details. I’ll explain.

The basic count Bragg figures to start with is falsifying company documents subject to state review. That’s a stand alone charge, and a criminal misdemeanor. But that just sets the table. because it allows the DA to add on things like conspiracy to defraud, local tax fraud, state tax fraud, and everything else short of not curbing your dog. The New York criminal code has more violations that can tie in than Carter has little green pills.

Here’s how it works in real life. The base charge is falsifying company records. That’s one charge right there, but just a misdemeanor. Let’s say that they decide to tack in conspiracy to defraud New York state taxes. That’s another stand alone charge right there. So now we’re up to two charges, right?

No. Because Trump is the original Roslyn Village Idiot. Michael Cohen made a one time payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels, right? Which is one violation. But that’s Cohen, not Trump. Trump, being the dumbest sumbitch ever born couldn’t just cut Cohen a $130,000 check for legal fees. No, not Emperor Numbus Nuttus. Over the course of a year, FrankenTrump made 11 payments to Cohen under the category of legal fees. Trump paid around $300,000 to Cohen for a $130,000 payoff to Stormy Daniels.

But here’s the McGuffin. According to New York state law, each of those payments constitutes a separate charge, since all of those payments were in the furtherance of the same criminal fraudulent act. So now your original single count of falsifying company records 11 counts of New York state tax fraud attached to it. And if Bragg decided to throw in a charge of conspiracy to defraud New York state, then there’s another potential 11 criminal charges that Bragg could choose to bring. Now we’re in the 20’s on Trump’s platter.

To sum up, these are not the cheesedick, puny, slap-on-the-wrist criminal violations that the GOP and some of the media like to portray. Simply because if Bragg can tie that original sin to other, more criminal sins, then every later sin is a separate, stand alone charge. And if you’re a judge at sentencing, who are you more likely to slam? A defendant with two puny charges against him, or a defendant with 24 criminal charges against him? It’s not the quality, it’s the quantity, baby! That’s what keeps buffets in business.

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3 COMMENTS

  1. I can’t help wondering what else might be on the table. First, let’s go back half a century to the Nixon-Agnew administration. There was all kinds of agonizing going on, but the end result was a special, intended for just that one situation with Agnew so that Nixon wouldn’t fuck with the system any more than top folks at DOJ knew he was already doing that a sitting President couldn’t be indicted but a VICE-President could. Hence the deal Agnew cut to avoid a nice healthy prison sentence. Alas, that “rule”, which is nothing more than a not at all well legally justified piece of garbage (even the author said so some years back) ever since there’s been a “rule”, and it’s nothing more than a DOJ rule with NO force of law backing it that a sitting President can’t be indicted.

    This of course was something that would become a huge deal for the Mueller investigation, especially with him being an institutionalist who would never challenge it. However, long before Mueller’s report noting crimes by Trump was handed over to Barr we had that stuff up in NYC with this Stormy Daniels payoff business. And in all that there was “Individual One” peppering legal filings and proceedings. An unindicted co-conspirator. Which as everyone knew was one Donald J. Trump, President of these United States. At the time Trump got a pass specifically and ONLY because of that DOJ rule. As with Barr’s bullshit, and McConnell’s during impeachment trials the rationalization was that once Trump was no longer President then he’d be subject to the legal system just like anyone else!

    So here we are. However, again I can’t help but think there’s more than paying off a pornstar not to speak up as the election approached. Cohen had all manner of stuff he’d done as a “fixer” for Trump and the feds got it all when they searched his office and home. A LOT of hours have been spent going through all the leads Cohen’s records and electronic devices. And Cohen himself has spent literally thousands of hours with federal, state and yes local NYC prosecutors for some years now helping them sort it out. I think that’s why Trump is freaking out so badly. He’s the type to boast to the MAGA guys “I fucked a porn babe” ha ha ha! And yes it would elevate him in their eyes. But, and this is the important part Cohen surely “fixed” a lot more for Trump than paying off Daniels. Trump is racking his “very fine brain” trying to remember all the shady and even illegal shit he had Cohen do on his behalf. Learning Cohen kept records, and worse recorded conversations with him has Trump sweating so badly he’s got to move around with someone to keep reapplying his ugly orange fake tan!

    So, what I’m looking for when the indictments come down is stuff completely unrelated to paying off Stormy Daniels.

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  2. Trump thinks he protected himself by avoiding -and even destroying- written notes.
    So everyone around him became much more diligent with their records just to protect themselves.

  3. I really hope one of the arrests on one of the indictments is at an undignified time like 4am. No coiffing or makeup like a common criminal dragged in. Maybe that idea is making Diaper Don sweat.

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