Trump’s martyrdom day was not what he expected

Judicial officials did not take any photos of the former president Donald Trump in his appearance on Tuesday.

But not because he didn’t want to.

The authorities indeed they didn’t need a passport photo of one of the most recognizable faces on Earth.

Trump wanted that photo, according to CNN, and when he didn’t get it, his presidential campaign put a fake one on a shirt to raise money.

He wanted her for the same reason he took his Florida private videographer to court:

to produce physical relics of his martyrdom at the hands of his leftist oppressors, evidence of the vast conspiracy he can foment at rallies and rant on his social media platform.

But a few things happened on Tuesday that Trump wasn’t counting on.

The pictures – and the details of the case itself – they sent to much more serious message than he expected.

Instead of a provocative photo of the NYPD or a raised fist, the lasting image of the day could be that of a humble former president looking down. stooped, angry and nervous At the defense table in the courtroom, a suddenly small man squeezed between his lawyers, while two New York State court officials loomed behind him in a necessary position to ensure the defendant held his ground.

And the 34 counts, to which Trump has pleaded not guilty, has turned out to be larger and broader than previously suspected.

Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Braggdescribed a sweeping conspiracy, with Trump at its center, to forge corporate documents in order to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election.

The former president, he said, “orchestrated a plan with others to influence the 2016 presidential election by identifying and buying up negative information about him in order to suppress its publication and further the defendant’s election prospects.”

The case has long been known to revolve around silent payments Trump made to a porn star.Stormy Danielsto cover up an affair they had.

Forging business records can sometimes be charged with a felony in New York State, and proof that they were forged to conceal another felony is needed to make charges a felony.

That offense was believed to be a violation of federal campaign finance, and some legal experts have described that combination as a unproven legal theorybecause federal violations are outside Bragg’s jurisdiction.

But it turned out that Bragg and the grand jury had more than one basis to make the felony charges.

The prosecutor argued Tuesday that, in addition to the federal campaign finance violations, Trump violated a state election law that makes it a felony prevent a person from being elected to public office by unlawful means while acting in conspiracy with others.

Bragg is on much safer ground in linking the fraudulent company records to a violation of state law, because the defense can’t argue that it has no jurisdiction over the matter — although Trump’s lawyers can still argue that state law doesn’t apply to a federal election.

And that wasn’t the only state law Bragg said he wanted to mention.

The payments to Daniels were made by Trump’s attorney, Michael Cohen, who was fraudulently reimbursed by Trump, prosecutors said.

The debit document alleged that this repayment had been unlawfully disguised as income in a manner which “mischaracterised, for tax purposes, the true nature of payments made to further the scheme”.

Then add to list state tax violations.

The allegations also revealed the breadth of Bragg’s case, showing that he intends to persuade a jury of a conspiracy that stretched from Trump and Cohen to David Pecker, a former publisher of The National Enquirerthat he was allegedly paid $150,000 by Trump to silence a second woman Trump was in a relationship with, former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

It was not known for certain until Tuesday that the affair with McDougal would be part of the case.

The felony charges are specifically against Daniels, but to prove them, Bragg clarified he would be describing a much broader pattern of corruption which included McDougal.

Prosecutors also revealed they would be relying on more than the oral testimony of their star witness, Cohen, who has already served a year in federal prison for his role in the payouts and whose credibility will be questioned.

There will, for example, be an audio recording of Trump and Cohen discussing exactly how McDougal’s payment to The National Enquirer’s parent company should be made.

And the evidence will also include text messages and emails discussing Trump’s suggestion that Daniels’ payment be delayed until after the election, “because at that point it wouldn’t matter if the story went public,” prosecutors said. .

(This could short-circuit any attempts by Trump to claim the payments were made solely to prevent his wife from finding out about his affairs.)

Bragg will have to prove all of these allegations in court, of course, assuming the case goes to court and the prosecution documents reveal nothing more than the surface of evidence he intends to use.

It’s not an easy case.

But this crimes are not new for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, used to pursuing corporate record cases, and they’re far from the one-off political activity Republicans intend them to be.

Inevitably, the day’s images and the details of the allegations will have a cumulative and grueling effect on many voters.

Trump thinks only of his grassroots supporters, who will share his anger at his ordeal on Tuesday and demand revenge.

But there aren’t enough base voters for Trump to even warrant him the Republican nomination, let alone the 2024 general election.

Will images of Trump at a defendant’s table, not to mention the headlines on 34 counts of paying bribes to a porn star, win a sizable number of swing voters to his side?

It’s hard to imagine that all this will benefit him, especially if other prosecutors later accuse him of abusing his presidential office.

Trump may be selling fake T-shirts, but with the law on his tail, he’ll have a much harder time selling himself.

c.2023 The New York Times Society