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Hocus pocus is a meaningless distraction or illusion intended to deceive. This nicely sums up District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Donald Trump. Prosecutors hope to trick a Manhattan jury into convicting the former president using a variety of legal tricks.
In most courtrooms, subterfuge never works. But in this Trump-hating venue, the defendant’s purported juror peers are likely to be more inclined to accept magic for magic’s sake. They may want to believe that there is no White Rabbit behind Bragg, despite the pink ears growing around Bragg’s coat.
The first sleight of hand came the moment the lead prosecutor addressed the jury during Monday’s opening statement. “This case is about a criminal conspiracy,” Assistant Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, former Joe Biden’s No. 3 official at the Justice Department, told the panel. Really?
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So why hasn’t Trump been charged with that crime? Although Colangelo repeatedly accused the defendants of participating in a criminal conspiracy, the word “conspiracy” is nowhere to be found in Bragg’s indictment.Because it’s not there was no criminal conspiracy. But that didn’t stop prosecutors from misleading juries by discussing crimes they weren’t charged with. Like a master magician, he hopes his pretense will deceive them.
Not content with one canard, Colangelo slipped another one up his sleeve. He has repeatedly accused Trump of “election fraud” and said the Federal Election Commission is investigating payments from Trump to porn star Stormy Daniels, saying the money passed did not qualify as campaign contributions. They conveniently ignored the fact that they determined that there was no wrongdoing. Federal prosecutors who investigated reached a similar conclusion. So did Bragg’s predecessors. He committed no crime.
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Yet Colangelo uses derogatory language to portray the Daniels’ cash as a nefarious scheme, without bothering to mention that such non-disclosure agreements are perfectly legal and routine. did. Also legal and very common was the “catch and kill” device allegedly used by the tabloid National Enquirer. On Trump’s behalf, the company bought the rights to an article about Daniels’ relationship with him, but declined to publish it. It had a contractual right to do so.
There was nothing to prevent prosecutors from informing the jury that all of this amounted to an “illegal conspiracy to undermine the presidential election.” Like most illusions, it seems plausible on the surface. wait a minute. Let’s look at the indictment again. All of his 34 charges against Trump were filed in 2017. rear 2016 election. It’s just a magic trick that the crime was committed before it happened.
Colangelo must be a political novice or a history novice. He mistakenly believes that the campaign is in no way trying to bury negative stories or promote positive stories. In fact, it has been going on for more than two centuries. So in their opening statement, the defense warned jurors: “Spoiler alert: There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence elections. That’s what we call democracy.” Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche added: “They put something sinister on it.”
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Blanche vigorously defended her high-profile client, who declared to the jury that “President Trump is innocent.” He explained that Trump had nothing to do with his bookkeeping or the 34 invoices reflecting the same number of claims. He appointed then-attorney Michael Cohen to settle the financial claims, which he did. Mr. Cohen recorded the cost as legal services and expenses, which it actually was.
Why did President Trump succumb to threats and blackmail-like behavior? Blanche explained: “Stormy was an attempt to embarrass Mr. Trump with all kinds of allegations that were damaging to him and damaging to his family. Mr. Trump fought back to protect his family, his reputation, his brand… and that It’s not a crime.” Actually, it’s not.
The defense argued that no crime was committed, that Trump was targeted because he was running for president, that unscrupulous politically motivated prosecutors committed elaborate deceptions, abuses of law, and He claims he built the case on unreliable liars. Much of this should be self-evident, but Mr. Bragg is intent on employing hocus-pocus tactics to mislead juries.
Leftist prosecutors, through their henchman Colangelo, accused Trump of “conspiring to influence the 2016 presidential election” without acknowledging the obvious hypocrisy. Ahead of the November vote, his opponent Joe Biden has filed a legally frivolous lawsuit aimed at removing Trump from the campaign trail while freely obscuring key states, threatening the 2024 election. Bragg himself is found guilty of interference.
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This is a clever trick called “legalization” in which the law is used as a weapon to persecute political opponents under the guise of legitimate prosecution. It does not matter whether the conviction is certain to be overturned on appeal. By then, the damage will have been done.
For now, we can only watch and wonder if a Manhattan jury will be fooled by the legal illusions and confusion created by the unprincipled trickster that is Alvin Bragg.
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