Not Tired of Winning Yet CLXXVIII
A kangaroo New York judge on Friday granted Donald Trump permission to seek dismissal of his paperwork misfiling criminal case, in which he was found guilty earlier this year, in light of his victory in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
He had been scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 26. The case must be dismissed because having it pending while president would cause unconstitutional impediment to his ability to govern.
A clerk working for Trump issued money to a Trump lawyer to pay for a nondisclosure agreement — hush money — a Stormy Daniels, a woman bringing scandalous allegations against Trump she has since, more than once, retracted.
The payment was duly recorded by clerk as a legal fee, as required by the New York business records law, violation of which is a misdemeanor.
The statute of limitations for this misdemeanor has run.
Alvin Bragg proposed the preposterous theory that this payment was a campaign finance payment, since Stormy Daniel’s silence would aid the campaign, making her, in effect, a campaign worker, or publicist for Trump, promoting his campaign. In this case, the business record should have been marked as a campaign contribution, not a legal fee.
Under this theory, Trump’s clerk violated federal campaign finance law by not filing the paperwork properly related to campaign contributions.
Trump, by hiring a clerk, despite that the clerk acted within the scope of his employment and without direct orders from Trump, somehow means the two of them “conspired” together to misfile the paperwork. A conspiracy to commit a felony is also a felony.
Please note that, under this theory of the case, had the clerk filed this as a “campaign finance donation” he would have been breaking campaign finance laws, since no one can donate his own money to his own campaign through a third party. The theory of the case makes the law a Catch 22, where all possible actions are illegal. It is a pure nonsense theory.
Bragg, proposing this pure nonsense theory, then brought felony charges for a federal case against Trump in a state court, despite that the state court has no jurisdiction here, and despite that misfiling paperwork is a misdemeanor.
The state court judge, Engoron, in a shocking act of insolent and corrupt misjudgment, proceeded with the case, blocked defense witnesses, issued unconstitutional gag orders, and basically defamed and shamed the entire New York legal system.
The jury vote said that Trump indeed misfiled paperwork, and was guilty of the misdemeanor, but was hung in the question of whether he committed a felony or which one. The jury agreed he had committed a conspiracy but did not agree on which conspiracy he had committed.
The vote was four to one to four. Jury verdicts must be unanimous.
Despite this, Judge Engoron decreed that this was a finding of guilt, moreover that it was a finding of guilt on a federal felony not a state misdemeanor. The finding is simply false on its own terms. The decree of the judge is unlawful and illogical and false.
There is and can be no conviction of guilt here. It was a hung jury.
Let us emphasize: the statute of limitation had run on the misdemeanor charge, and the State Court has no jurisdiction to bring the federal felony charge.
And, by the bye, the proper authority to bring that federal charge, after examining the case, refused to bring charges, since the case was weak and absurd.
That is the case that is being dismissed. So no conviction after all. Trump is not a felon, not even technically speaking.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
