You know it’s bad when even CNN is casting doubt on accusations against former President Donald Trump. Over the past decade, the news outlet has made it clear that if one could accuse the former president of killing kittens in a blood sacrifice ritual, its news anchors would breathlessly report on it as if it were an undeniable fact.
But when it comes to New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s indictment against the Orange Man What Is Bad™, even CNN can’t quite get on board that particular train. During a recent panel hosted by Anderson Cooper, Elie Honig, a former assistant U.S. attorney, expressed skepticism about the charges being levied against the former president.
“Now, payment of hush money is not a crime. It’s not a federal crime. It’s not a state crime. So how did they get here to state charges?” he asked. “They’re relying on a state law that makes it, in that first instance, a misdemeanor to falsify business records.”
Honig then pointed out that “in order to bump that up from a misdemeanor to a felony, you have to show that those records were falsified to commit some other crime, some second crime.” He acknowledged that the indictment does not “specify what that second crime is.”
However, the former prosecutor noted that Bragg later claimed that Trump was trying to cover up violations of state campaign laws and perhaps tax fraud. Honig said:
He said state campaign laws. I’m not sure how violations related to a presidential election would count as state campaign laws. There may be some creative argument there. And he did say in passing, and it’s mentioned one time in the statement of fact, tax fraud. Now, there’s no indication that they actually claimed a deduction. In fact, I believe they did not claim a deduction on this. But perhaps the theory is this was the plan.
CNN panelists are unimpressed with the case DA Alvin Bragg has presented.
Former US Attorney Elie Honig says he can't see how Trump allegedly committed a felony and he doesn't understand how state campaign laws apply to a federal election. He also scoffs at the tax fraud claim. pic.twitter.com/MtVL2htu0j— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) April 4, 2023
If Honig is reading this accurately, Bragg’s case is about as strong as a stale breadstick being soaked in in a glass of water. Not that we needed his analysis to come to that conclusion, of course. It was evident from the beginning that the DA’s case was a heaping load of steaming bovine excrement.
As RedState’s Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar pointed out, Bragg’s case is based on “charge stacking,” and does not seem to even know what the second charge is that Trump was supposedly trying to conceal. At this point, I can’t figure out what would be more embarrassing, bringing a case like this against a former president, or admitting I enjoy binge watching Hallmark Channel movies.
Bragg better be sitting on some actual evidence of wrongdoing. Otherwise, his political career will become even more of a laughingstock.
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