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By Bill Sargent & Mark Mancius
The Post Newspaper Contributing Columnists
It appears the left understands they can’t beat Trump in November. So, they have concocted a new ploy, charging him with highly questionable crimes to put him in jail or at least lock him in courtrooms with endless trials based on trumped-up charges so he cannot campaign and slapping him with gag orders. Although so far this plan seems to be backfiring on them with Trump getting 80,000-100,000 attendees at a rally in solidly blue New Jersey, it just might work using sympathetic judges and venues. The recent cross-examination of the prosecution’s “star witness,” Michael Cohen had the jury doing a double take when he appeared to be lying about having a phone conversation with Trump. And then he admitted stealing $50,000 from the Trump organization. It’s anybody’s guess what verdict the jury will return — if they return one at all — but it seems clear, if Trump is found guilty, that verdict will be overturned at the appellate court level.
But not to be outdone, last month Congressman Bernie Thompson (D-MS) introduced legislation to disqualify Donald Trump from Secret Service protection should he be found guilty. If convicted this bill could impact the safety of the former president but it raises a question; would they put him in jail before all his all his appeals are exhausted? They’ve tried everything else; why not try this too? They’ve already rejected such protection for Biden’s opponent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Prominent Democrat, constitutional law scholar, and defensive attorney, Alan Dershowitz has asserted Thompson’s legislation is “ridiculous” and it “means they want [Trump] killed… We live in an age where everybody is in danger,” he contended saying “Kennedy ought to be getting Secret Service protection, but certainly Donald Trump needs to get it.”
All this comes as President Trump faces a criminal trial in which prosecutors allege, he falsified business records during the 2016 campaign to cover up negative news stories. Judge Jaun Merchan — whose daughter might benefit financially from a conviction — is overseeing the case. He isn’t “…going to throw Donald Trump in jail,” Dershowitz said. “That would be a guaranteed victory for [Trump in November].”
Legal experts have said Alan Bragg’s case is an embarrassment. In the prosecution’s opening statement, Assistant Manhattan DA Matthew Colangelo said “This case is about a criminal conspiracy.” But “conspiracy” is nowhere to be found in the formal accusation, it’s not even mentioned. Trump isn’t being charged with “conspiracy” because there wasn’t any! Even the Biden DOJ turned down an opportunity to charge him with conspiracy. But that didn’t stop the prosecutor from trying to deceive the jury by arguing about a “crime.”
Undeterred, Colangelo used terms to portray the Daniels nondisclosure agreement as a nefarious scheme without bothering to mention that such agreements are perfectly legal; and used frequently and routinely. In addition, the events Trump is charged with took place AFTER the 2016 election in what the prosecution claims was a “conspiracy” to commit election fraud. How can this be if the election was already over? Isn’t it just possible that this case, itself, is an attempt to sway an election?
As Gregg Jarrett noted in a recent editorial, hocus-pocus is a meaningless distraction or illusion that is intended to fool. Alvin Bragg’s case against Donald Trump in Manhattan is just that; hocus-pocus attempting to fool the jury.
