By Albert DeSimone
I suspect most people know of former president Trump’s conviction, but I wonder how many know the true nature of the conviction, summarized here.
The former president’s conviction was a convoluted and creative application of the New York State Penal Law 175.10.
The underlying crime is fraud, and the fraud begins with Trump’s payments to Stormy Daniels to not tell her story.
His criminal act was not disguising hush money payments for a night on the town with a pornstar. Paying off someone to stay quiet about a certain event or action is not a crime in itself. In fact, hiding or disguising the payment is the exact purpose of hush money.
It is true that Trump’s records show the money was classified as a legal expense. The payments were filtered through his then lawyer (or fixer) Mark Cohen. It is true the records in question were noted as “legal services” instead of “payoff to pornstar,” which I doubt is an option in any accounting software program.
Falsifying records is a misdemeanor in New York; however, it becomes a felony if “it has the intent to defraud, such as to hide or assist in the commission of another crime.” (New York Law 175.10)
In short, Trump paid money to hide a personal indiscretion from American voters, and, as such, the jury determined he defrauded voters during the 2016 election by hiding that personal indiscretion to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.
There was no conviction of tax fraud or misuse of campaign funds, just a campaign strategy.
Trump’s fraud was carried out in the jurisdiction of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who publicly said armed robbers who stick up stores and businesses with deadly weapons (including guns) will be prosecuted for petty larceny, a misdemeanor, as long as nobody gets seriously hurt.
Soft on violent crime; hard on campaign strategy.
Albert DeSimone is a retired University of Georgia information technologist now living in Bishop.
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