Posted on 03/19/2023 7:50:56 AM PDT by Libloather
Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney's office won't have much of a legal leg to stand on if they indict former President Donald Trump on violating campaign finance law, according to a legal expert and former member of the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
"If the state charges are based on a supposed violation of federal campaign finance law, then the Manhattan DA is way off base," Hans von Spakovsky told Fox News Digital.
Von Spakovsky's comments came shortly after Trump said Saturday that he expects to be arrested Tuesday amid reports saying the Manhattan district attorney's office is preparing to issue an indictment for alleged hush money payments that Trump made as a presidential candidate in 2016.
**SNIP**
In the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump's then-lawyer Michael Cohen sent $130,000 to Daniels to prevent her from disclosing her alleged 2006 affair with Trump, who has denied the affair. Trump subsequently reimbursed Cohen.
It's been widely speculated that Trump could be charged with overseeing the false recording of the reimbursements in his company's internal records as "legal expenses."
Prosecutors are also expected to charge Trump with violating campaign finance laws by arranging the payments to buy Daniels' silence weeks before the 2016 election. However, experts have questioned the legal reasoning behind such a charge.
"A settlement payment of a nuisance claim is not a federal campaign expense," said von Spakovsky, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation. "The state DA has no authority to prosecute a federal campaign finance violation in any event."
Such cases, he argues, are within the province of the FEC, where he served as a commissioner, or the U.S. Justice Department, explaining that both agencies have known about the facts for years but have chosen not to prosecute Trump.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The process is the punishment. They are trying to kill his campaign with a thousand cuts.
George Washington University Law professor Jonathan Turley made this analysis :
They literally dug up a claim, a theory from 2016. A theory that the Department of Justice decided did not work prosecution. And Bragg’s own predecessor, of course, did not bring this case. It is really something that is really painfully obvious as a political prosecution in my view. It is a very weak case legally. This is a misdemeanor under New York law that they hope to convert into a felony. By essentially prosecuting a federal crime the Justice Department declined to bring. In prosecution.
That is going to be a hard thing to sell to some judges. But they might succeed. You cannot pick a better jurisdiction for the judges or juries in New York, obviously. This is the nightmare jury pool for Donald Trump. And he has to take this seriously. This is found to be a class c felony. I think the recommended minimum is a year in jail.
There are serious risks here. There are also serious flaws in this indictment. I am not entirely sure Bragg did not run out of time. Think they’re strong arguments to make the statute of limitations ran on this claim.”
And it will hog the media news for the the next week or two. It keeps the Biden crime family and the bank failures out of the news. This is a look see squirrel thing.
Will someone PLEASE explain to me how this can even proceed if the accused AND the “accuser” claim the “Affair” never even happened???????? https://archive.is/YzsOZ#selection-513.164-539.319
EXACTLY!!!! Why is this even an issue with ALL of the denials??? How quickly they forget???? Here’s one more.....https://archive.is/YzsOZ#selection-513.164-539.319
They keep trying because Trump is fearless!
He won’t stand down!
He won’t quit fighting!
He’s not a politician and he Loves America!
Someone is paying her big bucks to keep the lie going.
Oh spare us your sanctimony , ya snowflake
Yes, they did.
I wonder if DA’s can face legal repercussions.
I wonder if DA’s can face legal repercussions.
https://www.apmreports.org/story/2018/09/18/why-dont-prosecutors-get-disciplined
Prosecutors are also afforded unique legal protections. They have immunity from civil liability — you can’t sue them — and it’s almost unheard of for a prosecutor to face criminal penalties for something he or she did in court, like knowingly putting a lying witness on the stand or withholding evidence that points away from a defendant’s guilt.
but, but but
They do have to follow the same professional code of conduct as other lawyers, and if they don’t — this is where the bar association or ethics panel comes in
Well, duh, to both of those.
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