Check out this headline from today’s New York Times, on the criminal trial that is under way in Manhattan: “Will a Mountain of Evidence Be Enough to Convict Trump?” I understand that readers of the Times tune in mainly to get their daily dose of Trump-hate, but is the Times even pretending to be a newspaper anymore?
The trial, which could brand Mr. Trump a felon as he mounts another White House run, will reverberate throughout the nation and test the durability of the justice system that Mr. Trump is attacking in a way that no other defendant would be allowed to do.
Got that? Trump is attacking the justice system. I think it would be more accurate to say that the Democratic Party’s corrupt New York justice system is attacking Trump.
They will also seek to bolster the credibility of that key witness, Michael D. Cohen, a former fixer to Mr. Trump who previously pleaded guilty to federal crimes for paying the porn star, Stormy Daniels.
Classic New York Times reporting. The idea that Cohen has pled guilty to “federal crimes for paying the porn star,” and that his plea is strong evidence against Trump, is delusional. Andy McCarthy explains:
Cohen did not plead guilty in federal court because of campaign-finance violations, which were merely an opportunistic add-on. Cohen pled guilty because the SDNY had him dead-to-rights on serious fraud charges.
Cohen committed bank fraud in connection with a multimillion-dollar line of credit. Bank fraud carries a penalty of up to 30 years’ imprisonment. As the most severe offense he faced, it was the driver of the federal sentencing guidelines that would apply to his case. …
In addition to the bank fraud, Cohen pled guilty to five counts of tax evasion, each carrying a potential five-year prison term. By the Justice Department’s description, these felonies involved over $4 million in unreported income. …
That is why Cohen pled guilty. He was looking at years of incarceration. And as is common when a suspect is in such straits, Cohen desperately sought to become a cooperating witness for the government.
As for the “mountain of evidence,” what does it show? That Trump’s company falsely characterized payments to Cohen’s law firm as legal expenses, when in fact Cohen was being reimbursed for making entirely legal payments to Stormy Daniels. That is a misdemeanor on which the statute of limitations has run.
Which doesn’t mean, of course, that the jury won’t convict Trump. But if the jury does convict him, it will only be because they are in the grip of the crazed Trump-hatred which the New York Times ceaselessly seeks to promote.
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