After pleading Not Guilty, the grand jury indictment against Donald Trump was unsealed.

And then Alvin Bragg attempted to explain why such an indictment was necessary. In fact his office, which has and is spending well over $200 million on this case, issued a Statement of Facts just prior to the arraignment. You can read it all here. What’s interesting about the detail is it doesn’t give us anything new. It’s all (despite the Lawyer A crap and AMI – National Enquirer) a repeat of what we know. What is laughable is the opening to this “factual statement.” 

The defendant DONALD J. TRUMP repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal criminal conduct that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election.

2. From August 2015 to December 2017, the Defendant orchestrated a scheme with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and purchasing negative information about him to suppress its publication and benefit the Defendant’s electoral prospects. In order to execute the unlawful scheme, the participants violated election laws and made and caused false entries in the business records of various entities in New York. The participants also took steps that mischaracterized, for tax purposes, the true nature of the payments made in furtherance of the scheme.

Every single political candidate in modern history, or prior doesn’t want negative information about them publicized! Every single one! That is what opposition research is for! Furthermore, as we’ve seen since 2015 and especially 2016 when Trump threw his hat in the ring, any negative information about him has been completely treated as fact. No one, and I mean NO ONE ever questions the veracity of a Stormy Daniels or those putting forth the Steele Dossier or the supposed ‘grab ’em by the p***y’ tapes. 

And now, Alvin Bragg’s office with this indictment is telling us that yes, it’s really really true THIS TIME. 

Alvin Bragg says that the second crime Donald Trump tried to conceal with the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels was "suppressing negative information to help his chances of winning the 2016 election." pic.twitter.com/dYVdKf4lAZ

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 4, 2023

The indictment itself reads quite literally as a copy/paste of the same charges with very little difference in verbiage. Below is the 1st and 34th count. 

THE GRAND JURY OF THE COUNTY OF NEW YORK, by this indictment, accuses the defendant of the crime of FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IN THE FIRST DEGREE, in violation of Penal Law §175.10, committed as follows:

The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.

~Snip

AND THE GRAND JURY AFORESAID, by this indictment, further accuses the
defendant of the crime of FALSIFYING BUSINESS RECORDS IN THE FIRST DEGREE, in violation of Penal Law §175.10, committed as follows:

The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about December 5, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account check and check stub dated December 5, 2017, bearing check number 003006, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.

Keep in mind, this very same case was kicked to the curb by the feds, by the former NYC DA, and by Alvin Bragg himself. Nothing about the case has changed, yet why now does this case suddenly have merit? We keep asking that question and the only answer that comes to mind, as many are pointing out is, political lawfare and payback. I say payback and political lawfare because the press release makes it very clear this is political in nature. 

“The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” said District Attorney Bragg. “Manhattan is home to the country’s most significant business market. We cannot allow New York businesses to manipulate their records to cover up criminal conduct. As the Statement of Facts describes, the trail of money and lies exposes a pattern that, the People allege, violates one of New York’s basic and fundamental business laws. As this office has done time and time again, we today uphold our solemn responsibility to ensure that everyone stands equal before the law.”

I’d be willing to bet there are a great many businesses in New York City that manipulate their records. Yet going after them isn’t as sexy as it is to go after Donald Trump. 

This is a good day to spot the difference between the people here who are competent lawyers and the people here who are not. A competent lawyer who has actually put in the work reading the law can spot the glaring problems with this indictment.

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) April 4, 2023

And, of course, during Alvin Bragg’s explainer, he stated the following:

Bragg: "We can not, and will not normalize serious criminal conduct."

Last year, Alvin Bragg reduced 52% of all felony charges to misdemeanors. pic.twitter.com/lS4cYDpPst

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 4, 2023

Which is incredibly laughable because HE is the one who has normalized criminal conduct and coddled the criminals! 

That said, when you have to run to the media and “explain” your case to the public immediately after the defendant was arraigned in court, but the public isn’t allowed to even have a camera view on the proceedings… that raises more questions than answers. 

Feature Photo Credit: law book via Pixabay, cropped and modified