It seems to be in Donald Trump’s DNA to break the law. At least, that’s a reasonable conclusion to come to, considering all the criminal and civil trials that he’s been involved in, not to mention the numerous NDAs he’s demanded that people sign, not to further mention all the legal shakedowns he’s been reportedly implicated in, where he sues people and basically bludgeons them into submission because they don’t have enough money to continue the suit, and so they settle, usually to their detriment.
But times are changing and Trump has been held accountable in at least a few cases. He hasn’t paid the judgments yet, but he will. He owes E. Jean Carroll a bundle of money, $83 million, and he owes the State of New York $454 million. And he owes his personal liberty to the State of New York and for what time will be determined in about three weeks. (And he might not have to serve any prison time as a first time offender. However his egregious conduct during trial may affect the judge’s decision and rightfully so.)
But Trump’s not done. He’s got a quid pro quo going with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., i.e. a post in his government, should he win, in exchange for RFK Jr.’s endorsement. Turns out that that’s illegal as hell. So the Lincoln Project felt it incumbent to write a letter to the attorney general of the United States. That’s reproduced below. (Apologies that the copy and paste is not perfect. We do our best.)
August 30, 2024
U.S. Department of Justice
Attn: Merrick Garland, Attorney General
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530
Re: Violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 599 & 600 by Donald Trump
Attorney General Garland:
The Lincoln Project formally requests that your office open an investigation into
Donald Trump (“Trump”) to determine if he violated 18 U.S.C. § 599 (“Section 559”)
or 18 U.S.C. § 600 (“Section 600”) by promising to appoint, or support for
appointment, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (“RFK Jr.”) to a public office in exchange for
RFK Jr. endorsing and supporting Trump’s campaign for President of the United
States.
These are criminal violations subject to fines and imprisonment.
Background
2016 Presidential Election
Trump has been convicted of 34 felonies related to his attempts to influence the
2016 presidential campaign. The People of the State of New York v. Donald J.
Trump, Ind. No. 71543-23. In the run up to the 2016 election, Trump made
payments to a porn star to keep her from telling the media about his adulterous
encounter with her. Trump did so to hide the truth from the American people and
defraud them in the run up to the 2016 presidential election.
2020 Presidential Election
Trump has also been indicted in both federal court and in the State of Georgia for,
again, attempting to interfere in free and fair elections during the 2020 presidential
election. The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) is currently prosecuting Trump on four
charges related to his use of “dishonesty, fraud, and deceit” to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election. United States of America v.
Donald J. Trump, No. 1:23-cr-00257-TSC, U.S. D. D.C. (Filed August 1, 2023). The
DOJ has charged Trump with “using knowingly false claims of election fraud” and
conspiring with others to interfere with the collection, counting, and certification of
the 2020 election, all for the purpose of denying the outcome of voters in the 2020
presidential election.
Similarly, the State of Georgia brought multiple felony charges against Trump for
his attempts to undermine the 2020 presidential election in that state. The State of
Georgia v. Donald John Trump, et al, Ind. No. 23SC188947 (Filed August 14, 2023).
The State of Georgia has charged Trump along with multiple conspirators of
“knowingly and willfully [joining] a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of
the [2020 presidential] election in favor of Trump.” Again, Trump attempted to
subvert the will of the people of Georgia to benefit his own presidential aspirations
in 2020.
2024 Presidential Election
Now it appears Trump is again interfering with free, fair elections in the 2024
presidential election.
Trump is, for the third consecutive time, the Republican nominee for president. At
the same time RFK Jr sought the same office. RFK Jr announced his campaign for
president on April 19, 2023, eventually deciding to pursue the office as an
independent rather than through the Democratic primary process. To that end, RFK
Jr sought ballot access in states across the country.
Throughout much of the election cycle – until May 2024 – Americans held a net
favorable opinion of RFK Jr.
2 From September 2023 through July 2024, polls
showed RFK Jr garnering between 8% – 20% of the national vote for president.3
While RFK Jr’s polling numbers had dropped from 15% in early July 2024 to just
7% in early August, after Vice-President (and current Democratic presidential
candidate) Kamala Harris (“Harris”) entered the race in place of President Joe
Biden, RFK Jr continued to draw 40% of his support from Republican leaning voters
who would otherwise be likely to support Trump.4
4 Hannah Hartig, As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. exits, a look at who supported him in the 2024 presidential race, Pew
Research Center (Aug. 23, 2024),
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/08/23/as-rfk-jr-exits-a-look-at-who-supported-him-in-the-2024-pr
esidential-race/.
3 Biden vs. Trump vs. RFK Jr. polls, TheHill.com,
https://elections2024.thehill.com/national/biden-trump-rfk-general/ (last visited Aug. 26, 2024).
2 Do Americans have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Robert F. Kennedy? FiveThirtyEight.com,
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/favorability/robert-f-kennedy/ (last visited Aug. 26, 2024).
1 Caitlin Yilek, Map shows where RFK Jr. is on the ballot in the 2024 election, CBS News (Aug. 23, 2025, 3:35 p.m.
EDT), https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rfk-jr-map-on-the-ballot-states/.
In short, RFK Jr had something of value that Trump wanted: the support of voters
who might otherwise support Trump, particularly in swing states where RFK Jr
appeared on the ballot.
In a leaked video recording of a telephone call between Trump and RFK Jr, made
public on July 16, 2024 – during the Republican National Convention set to
nominate Trump – Trump told RFK Jr:
“I would love to do something … And I think it’ll be so good for you and
so big for you. And we’re going to win.”
RFK Jr has confirmed that he not only spoke with Trump on July 13, 2024, but met
with Trump the following day in Minneapolis, Minnesota.5
After his first discussion with Trump, RFK Jr attempted to speak with Harris as
well. It is currently not publicly known how RFK Jr attempted to contact Harris,
whether he did so himself personally or through campaign staff, and with whom in
Harris’ campaign those attempts were made. Similarly, it is not publicly known
what specific ask or request RFK Jr attempted to relay to Harris.
The only fact confirmed by RFK Jr in public is that Harris never spoke with him. As
RFK Jr said, “Vice President Harris declined to meet or even speak with me.”6
After being rebuffed by Harris, RFK Jr engaged in subsequent discussions with
Trump and his staff, including a trip to Florida several weeks later.
Contemporaneous allegations, unconfirmed but investigatable, suggest that at some
point Trump offered RFK Jr a public office in the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services (“HHS”), up to and including the position of Secretary of HHS, in
exchange for RFK Jr’s endorsement of Trump in the 2024 presidential election. For
example, RFK Jr’s own family member recently wrote in the Washington Post, “…
my cousin, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., endorsed Donal Trump, reportedly in exchange
for a Cabinet-level position overseeing efforts in the health arena.”8
8 William Kennedy Smith, Letters to the Editor, The Washington Post (Aug. 29, 2024, 4:21 p.m. EDT),
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/08/29/rfk-kennedy-trump-vaccines-harris/.
7 Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, RFK Jr. speaks at Trump rally: FULL SPEECH, YouTube (Aug. 23, 2024),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNAdilyqow.
6 Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, RFK Jr. drops out, endorses Trump: FULL SPEECH, YouTube (Aug. 23, 2024),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNAdilyqow.
5 Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, RFK Jr. speaks at Trump rally: FULL SPEECH, YouTube (Aug. 23, 2024),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNAdilyqow.
An investigation, including interviews with staff members from both Trump’s
campaign and RFK Jr’s campaign and records subpoenas could help to shed light on
this question for the American public.
On Friday, August 23, 2024, one day after the Democratic National Convention
closed with the nomination of Harris as the Democratic nominee for president, RFK
Jr endorsed Trump for president. During a press conference and rally that same
day, RFK Jr spoke extensively about his beliefs regarding the health of Americans
and failings of government agencies, including HHS.9 He also stated:
● “Our polling consistently showed that by staying on the ballot in the
battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats
…”
● “My name will remain on the ballot in most states … but in about ten
battleground states where my presence would be a spoiler I’m going to
remove my name … and urge voters not to vote for me.”
● “… and now to throw my support to President Trump.”10
Almost immediately, Trump and his campaign began campaigning off RFK Jr’s
endorsement including the press conference, the rally speech, and social media
posts including a weird mashup of their faces in an Instagram post for “MAHA” –
“Make America Healthy Again.”11
Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 559 – Promise of appointment by candidate & Violation of 18 U.S.C. § 600 – Promise of employment or other benefit for political activity
To our knowledge, the DOJ has never prosecuted a violation of Section 559 and
prosecution under Section 600 is also rare. But America has also never had a felon
indicted and convicted for interfering with an election run for president before,
either. Under the circumstances listed above, an investigation is more than
warranted.
Section 559 reads:
11 Donald J Trump Jr (@donaldjtrumpjr), Instagram (Aug. 26, 2024),
https://www.instagram.com/p/C_IhJqVyWf2/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==.
10 Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, RFK Jr. drops out, endorses Trump: FULL SPEECH, YouTube (Aug. 23, 2024),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNAdilyqow.
9 Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, RFK Jr. drops out, endorses Trump: FULL SPEECH, YouTube (Aug. 23, 2024),
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNAdilyqow; Fox 4 Dallas-Fort Worth, RFK Jr. speaks at Trump rally: FULL
SPEECH, YouTube (Aug. 23, 2024), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxNAdilyqow.
§599. Promise of appointment by candidate.
Whoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or pledges the
appointment, or the use of his influence or support for the appointment of any
person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of
procuring support in his candidacy shall be fined under this title or
imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.
Similarly, Section 600 reads:
§600. Promise of employment or other benefit for political activity.
Whoever, directly or indirectly, promises any employment, position,
compensation, contract, appointment, or other benefit, provided for or made
possible in whole or in part by any Act of Congress, or any special
consideration in obtaining any such benefit, to any person as consideration,
favor, or reward for any political activity or for the support of or opposition to
any candidate or any political party in connection with any general or special
election to any political office … shall be fine under this title or imprisoned
not more than one year, or both.
The elements and potential violation in this case are clear. First, it is undisputed
that Trump is a candidate for president. Second, there is at least the appearance of
a promise from Trump to RFK Jr to appoint the latter to a public office in a second
Trump administration. As his polling numbers diminished and his chances to win
even a single electoral vote became ever more impossible, it seems apparent that
RFK Jr began shopping his endorsement to the two major party candidates for
president, Harris and Trump. Trump engaged RFK Jr; Harris did not. Once
rebuffed by Harris, RFK Jr met again with Trump and his advisors, in person in
Florida. Trump emerged from that meeting with RFK Jr’s endorsement.
Finally, it is clear that any promise Trump may have made to RFK Jr was in
support of Trump’s candidacy. By securing RFK Jr’s endorsement, and his pledge to
remove his name from the ballot in battleground states, Trump hoped to gain an
advantage in the presidential race. Specifically, he hoped RFK Jr’s endorsement
would come with tens of thousands of voters in those states. Given that the last two
presidential elections have been one by only a few thousand votes in a few
battleground states, such an outcome would be a boon for Trump.
This is not some fictional plot on Succession; RFK Jr is not Connor Roy bumbling
his way to a Slovenian ambassadorship.
This is a serious matter in which Trump is interfering in and undermining
American elections at the highest level. Again. An investigation cannot wait. Should
their deal reap its intended consequences, there will be no opportunity to engage in
an investigation post-election. Trump will surely quash any suggestion of an
investigation, just as he will likely put a stop to the DOJ prosecutions already
underway.
Furthermore, the American people deserve the truth before the election in just over
two months. They deserve an investigation and deserve to know Trump and RFK Jr
made a deal at their expense.
Consequently, we call on your office to begin an immediate investigation and
determine if a violation of Section 599 or Section 600 occurred.
Sincerely,
___________________________________
Mario Nicolais, General Counsel
Very interesting, indeed. I hope that this gets tons of publicity, needless to say. It’s just one more lawless act by Trump, taken without doing the proper research, simply because Trump believes he is above the law. Or at least his behavior certainly indicates that that’s the case.
My word isn’t he a bit of scum? That’s what he call those who break (or according to him break) the law right? Although, now that I think of it, he calls everyone who disagrees with him scum. Still, I haven’t seen criminal scum of this magnitude in a very long time.
You’d think DoJ would be chomping at the bit to get this criminal. If you or I had this kind of a rap sheet we’d be wasting away in the slammer way before now. Not garland tho’. hmmmm, seems….wrong somehow.
The part I like best is the obliviousness. It didn’t cross his minds (or any of his aides’ minds, either) that this could be illegal as hell, to sell a cabinet post for an endorsement. Talk about banana Republicans.
AND ASIDE from ‘All the Above’ … RFKJR wants HHS … so he can stop all CHILDHOOD VACCINATIONS in the USA! Are you awake yet? @SmartParenting @MomsDemand @AmericanMedicalAssociation …and ALL AMERICAN PEDIATRICIANS ?
WOW, and just HOW does the GOP continue to support someone that actually has been found guilty of many attempts to fix things for them AND himself …
Trump, by his own design has become a HOT POTATO, best handled by those BIG prison guards, that don’t give a f–k who you are or were, their job will be to keep him behind the steel curtain of containment, NO place for a completely self-absorbed blabber mouth without his beloved spotlight …
Sad, Trump, they might even let you keep your teddy bear in your cell !!
It’s too bad that AG Garland is a coward who lacks the spine and balls to do anything about any of Trump’s crimes.
Garland= hypocrite and coward! Geez Mr. AG…I WONDER what would be happening if a group of black kids assaulted the federal employee and were laughing it up over the grave taking selfies? Thanks along with BIBI for once again showing what the Jews really are all about…yourselves…just like the Christo fascists. Your phucking image and career are your priorities. Oh and before the antisemitic shit flies my way…I have a fancy certificate from 1979 that shows I’m a goddamn Jew. It was good enough for Jesus, whom I do admire. So phuck off ALL you apologists and Zionists. The truth always stands no matter what the crowd/sheep bleat!
Who the fuck cares about your ALLEGED certificate that shows you’re a Jew? Aren’t YOU the one who keeps bringing up stuff about the kapos in the death camps? You do know there’s such a thing as a “self-hating Jew,” right?
So, it’s possible to be both a Jew AND an anti-Semite. And you’ve proved yourself to be the latter, if not the former.
Joseph, we have to keep the discussion civil. Please.
To be honest, I’ve already received one complaint about you being unduly harsh and I’m asking you politely to please not do so. We welcome civilized participation here. Only.
How about you ‘politely’ say the same thing to Scott. His foul-mouthed and often misogynist rants are disgusting and offensive, and frequent. I’ve never understood why he’s allowed to vent his spleen all over us like this without any pushback.
To be completely honest with you, I don’t read every single comment on the site, because I don’t have time. I’m too busy writing and managing the site to have my eyes everywhere. if you can show me a sample of what offends you, always feel free to contact me at [email protected] and I will address your concerns.
Carol…to vilify me without any evidence because you don’t like my profanity makes you a misandrist. I’ve sacrificed my entire life to raise one white daughter, one brown daughter, one black daughter, and two black step daughters despite the betrayal of women…the FACT it was without cause makes me a very poor misogynist. If I remember your story, you were screwed by your ex. You evidently have generalized it to include all men. By the way one person’s profanity is another’s first amendment right…so go look in the mirror. You are the hater. Not me. Next time you shoot your mouth off and use big words…be sure to phucking bring the evidence. Just saying.
I would take a minute to remind all you Garland-bashers that Garland has probably received this letter roughly about the same time as all of you read this article.
Do NONE of you idiots know a damned thing about how the law actually works? I’m pretty sure that none of you really think it works like it does on “Law & Order,” where a crime is committed and the jury trial delivers a verdict in the course of an hour but, DOYC, you people certainly ACT that way in your vitriol. Investigations take time. You don’t just haul someone into court based on nothing–at least, not if you TRULY believe in this country’s legal system. I do know that SOME OF YOU will bitch, piss and moan about how the system screws over some people and how awful that is, but then you turn right around and expect to have people you don’t like hauled into a kangaroo court and then sentenced to life in prison because you’re hypocrites.
I’m honestly surprised that none of you decided to personally blame AG Garland for the Supreme Court’s decision that Trump had “some” immunity in the Jan 6 case. How the holy hell did THAT escape your notice?
Please don’t begin a sentence with “you idiots.” We need to treat each other better than this.
Best educate yourself before calling other people idiots…
https://sarahkendzior.substack.com/p/servants-of-the-mafia-state
I didn’t go into the Marines until I was 26. I’m from a small midwestern town that is dying but back then still had 10k people. Most folks knew other folks, and being we were the county seat I knew both town cops and deputies from the county sherriff’s dept. and even got on the merit hiring list for them. I was also the choice to become a probation officer but the Chief Judge (and he called me into his office both to apologize and say I’d get the next opening no matter what) felt that a woman I knew (yes, she was qualified for the job herself) should get the post as she’d be replacing the only woman they had who had gotten another job. My point is that I knew people who made arrests, people who’d been arrested and lawyers involved in prosecutions. Same with other legal disputes like some divorces including some between prominent couples that got ugly. I volunteered for infantry in the Corps but got sent to HQMC for temporary duty which wound up leading to a permanent assignment there – with the Provost Marshal’s Office. Military Police. I wore a badge. And both took people into custody myself but would wind up elevated to a position where it wasn’t just my own incident reports that were the basis for charges but other’s too was part of my duties. So yeah, I know a “think or two”, not to mention the fact only a hiring freeze prevented me from becoming a federal game warden even thought I had TWO SACS recommending me. For certain reasons I’m not allowed to go into certain matters that caused us to have to interact with the FBI and some other entities but again, I’m not some guy who fell off the fucking turnip truck and I know how ridiculous the timeline of arrest to end of a court case we see with TV shows actually is.
Having said all that, when it comes to Garland here are my own thoughts. Yes, he was unfairly denied a seat on SCOTUS. BUT part of what made what McConnell did so shocking was the legion of GOP Senators who recommended him to then President Obama. He wasn’t the kind of conservative firebrand they’d want of course, but his “moderation” was such they not only could live with him being on the Court they figured he’d often be friendly to conservative’s arguments! So there’s the fact Garland was ok enough to more than enough GOPers he’d have had a swift and smooth confirmation (if not for McConnell’s decision to steal the seat) that I find troubling.
The same feelings about Garland ensured he’d get a relatively smooth confirmation as AG. Given the mess he was walking into an insitutionalist who’d be most concerneed with rebuilding actually made sense to a lot of people on both sides. Even I at that point, while I’d have liked someone I knew would be more aggressive thought Garland was a reasonable choice. However, as time went by and we saw DOJ going after relatively low hanging fruit so they could get at the leaders of some of the “outside” groups like Oath Keepers and Proud Boys like many I was troubled by the seeming lack of any effort to get at the POLTICAL folks both inside the Trump administration and Trump’s cronies who weren’t officially part of the govt. but had his ear.
I can see why the combination of getting a sustainable plan in the works to rebuild DOJ and deal with the huge numbers of actual rioters (and working up to their organizers OUTSIDE the administration) would have been the priority. Personally I think within a few months a Special Prosecutor for Trump and his pals should have been named BUT can see why it didn’t happen right away. Still, after a year or so I thought WTF is taking so long?
The issue Joseph is HOW FUCKING LONG it took for Garland to appoint Jack Smith (or someone else) to do what Smith set about doing. Yes, both the FL case and the DC case should already have gone to trial and verdict but anyone who knew the first damned thing about Trump knows his talent for ABUSING the appeals process to drag things out. Smith wasn’t appointed until the END of 2022 (November to be exact – right as the holidays were coming up) so he couldn’t really get rolling until a couple of months into 2023. As everyone knew would happen Trump threw every grain of sand he could into the gears, helped by in FL in particular a lapdog judge. Even in DC Trump had friends which dicked around at the appellate level and took their sweet ass time making rulings. And of course SCOTUS taking ITS sweet ass time although none of us thought they’d go as far as they did to shield Trump from accountability.
But just imagine for a second if Garland had appointed Smith (or someone like him) in the fall of 2021? All this legal shit would have played out a YEAR earlier. That means by early this year we’d be looking at prosecutions in either FL or DC or perhaps both, with verdicts quite likely before the primaries were over. THAT is why so many of us are furious with Garland.
I am of the group that thinks he just didn’t want to subject himself or the DOJ to the full measure of Trump/MAGA wrath. He just forlornly HOPED that Trump would accept his loss and move on and scam people in a comfy retirement. However, even if not to keep his ass out of jail (there were after all those state prosecutions going on and so much other stuff he was on the hook for legally) Trump’s ego is such he was never, EVER going to just step back from the spotlight. He had scores to settle and needed the powers of the Presidency to start exacting retribution on those (including we the voters) who denied him re-election.
Garland just wasn’t up to the task of protecting the rule of law and his client, the American people. His dithering, his delay in naming and empowering a Special Counsel to investigate (and prosecute if there was a strong case) Trump and the true ringleaders of Trump’s crimes is unforgivable. Here’s the part about what you’ve said that REALLY pisses me off:
You correctly point out that real life isn’t like TV and that it takes time to build a solid case, and that there will be unforeseeable delays in getting to trial. EXACTLY. But don’t insult me or anyone else for believing and saying that Garland should have appointed Smith (or someone else) at least a year earlier than he did. Don’t you fucking DARE sit there and defend Garland by saying “Ooh – don’t be so hard on poor Merrick. How could he possibly think there might be evidence Trump and his cronies committed crimes?” We ALL knew after J6 there was at least that. Not to mention other stuff for which he’ll never be held to account. And consider how long the mess with Trump STEALING highly classified information and REFUSING to return it went on?
Again, during my duties in DC and time I spent serving in the Pentagon I KNOW what happens to people, even fairly high ranking officers and civilians who leave ONE SINGLE DOCUMENT unsecured in a locked office. Firs thing the next morning they are relieve of duty (whether miliary or civilian), their security clearance is revoked and steps are initiated to prosecute them!
Don’t YOU fucking DARE to tell ME I don’t know shit about how things work in the real world. I’ll wager I have more real world knowledge and experience than YOU do.
Garland failed us. Plain and simple. That’s the problem with institutionalists. We need such people because without them our institutions would crumble. However, when their tunnel vision gets them to a point where ALL they can see is some need to protect/shield the reputation of their institution, to prevent it from being attacked then they wind up doing the very thing they so desperately want to prevent – the reputation of their beloved institution being harmed.
Or, in this case if because of Garland’s inaction (until it was possibly too late) that institution being destroyed.
Someday, like Rod Rosenstein Garland’s actions will get a deep dive look from historians and it won’t be a pretty picture that emerges.
A good start. Then there’s the Project 2025 job seekers list, an entire database of MAGAs looking for positions in the orange turd’s administration. How many have written checks to get on the list? And let’s not forget some newly minted election officials in Georgia, one of whom openly admits he is looking for a certain federally appointed position in his state.
Joseph it’s not Jews or any other group I hate…it’s the subculture of hypocrites in all of them, and Garland isn’t the fighter we’ve needed to fight this fascist and his criminal empire, from the jump. The Jan6th committee shamed him to do what he should have done over a year earlier. He wants to be all things to all people. Some of the finest people I know are Jewish. By the way I didn’t ‘alledge’ anything. That’s just a way of calling me a liar. Why not be brave enough to just use the correct term.
Scott, he won’t see the comment because you didn’t direct it at him. You made a general comment to the thread.
To direct a comment, either uprate it or downrate it and you should see the word “reply” in small print. Hit reply and THAT will direct the comment via email to the intended recipient.
Ursula I wouldn’t expect ‘proof’ from Carol’s labels about me…just not true…except for using profanity. One person’s profane is another’s joyful exuberance! Misogyny? With 5 daughters I’ve helped raise and covering all races…I think not. The thin skinned so easily offended matters not to me with nazis on the doorstep.
I’d just like to point out that although Trump is technically a first time offender as he was not convicted of any criminal conduct before the NY verdict, he should not get any consideration in that regard. He and/or his company were found guilty of sexual abuse, charity fraud, and business fraud. He also has a long history of business problems including failing to pay bills and housing discrimination. So, his history shows he is unlikely to reform if given a light sentence and second chance, which is the rationale behind “first offender” mitigation. (And it is not mandatory, but squarely within the judge’s discretion.)
Moreover, the gravity of the crime comes into play when considering sentencing, of course. Here, the egregiousness of the criminal misconduct – falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments in order to interfere with the 2016 presidential eleciton, is more than enough to mitigate against any sentencing mitigation.
IMHO, if a prison sentence is not imposed, it will only be due to a double standard for the most undeserving person in US history. (Unless the Supreme Court immunity decision gets in the way. As a lawyer, though, I believe there was so much overwhelming evidence against Muammar Covfefe that even if some has to be tossed due to immunity, there’s more than enough to uphold the conviction.)