Trump, at worst, made a bookkeeping error. At worst. That’s the charge of business records fraud. The charge is that he listed something as a business expense that isn’t one.
COHEN paid Stormy Daniels. He says Trump told him to, but Cohen was the one who wrote the check to Daniels to pay for the NDA. (NDAs are routine, BTW.) Did Trump pay him? That’s the allegation.
But business records errors, even if criminal, are a misdemeanor with a two-year statute of limitations. So Bragg cannot legally use that.
So Bragg had to dig up a Federal law — whcih he has NO jurisdiction to enforce — to try to turn a non-crime with an expired statute of limitations into a felony. But he inverted the law, and it isn’t even applicable anyway.
Federal law says you can’t use campaign money for personal expenses, but what Bragg is charging Trump with is using his personal money for campaign purposes.
Now, Trump is entitled to throw billions of his own money at his campaign if he can and chooses to. So Bragg is already wrong on the law.
Either the NDA is a campaign expense or it isn’t. If it is, as I wrote above, Trump can put all his money into it if he wants. If it isn’t, then there is no crime here.
The law says that if there is another purpose, such as to protect his marriage and family and/or to protect his company and its brand, then it cannot be considered a campaign expense. So either way, there is no crime here.
This case was already rejected by the Feds and by Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance. Bragg, despite campaigning on “get Trump,” also rejected prosecuting him, until a couple of his deputies resigned over it.
But getting their political enemy is much more important than the actual law.
Cohen himself said Trump never reimbursed him for the payment Trump never authorized.
That’s good, and probably true. But we’re not playing by that rule-book in America anymore.
Haven’t been for a while.
All of this is true, but he will have a New York City jury.