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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][twitter]https://twitter.com/AndrewCMcCarthy/status/1638132859591352321[/twitter]

As has been widely observed, the New York State crime of falsification of business records, which Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is expected to charge against former President Donald Trump, is a misdemeanor. It can be inflated into a felony, but only if the state can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant intended, by this falsification of records, to "conceal the commission" of "another crime."

Bragg is expected to charge Trump with the felony. This is significant not merely in terms of a potential sentence – up to four years’ imprisonment for the felony, versus less than a year for the misdemeanor. It may matter a great deal in terms of whether the case is time-barred. In New York criminal law, the statute of limitations for most non-violent felonies (including the one applicable to falsifying business records) is five years; for misdemeanors, it is just two years.

If Bragg cannot prove a felony – i.e., if he fails to establish not only that (a) Trump falsified records but also that (b) he knew he had committed some second crime and intentionally sought to conceal it by falsifying the records – the case should be dismissed as time-barred.

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Let’s assume for argument’s sake, however, that Bragg can get around the staleness problem. He still needs to prove that Trump intentionally concealed "another crime."

Bragg-friendly analysts have speculated that this crime could be a campaign finance violation. It’s a specious suggestion. First, when New York penal law refers to "another crime," it obviously means another New York crime. By contrast, campaign finance laws enacted by Congress, including those related to elections for president of the United States (a federal office), prescribe federal crimes, not New York crimes. Moreover, while it is highly unlikely that Trump violated federal campaign finance law, such violations – including many involving significantly higher money amounts than we are talking about here – are typically settled by fines paid to the Federal Election Commission, not by criminal prosecution.

Obviously, that is why the federal prosecutors, who investigated the Stormy Daniels caper before the Manhattan DA’s office did, declined to prosecute Trump.

What’s more, in New York – where self-styled "progressive prosecutors," such as Bragg, are soft on real crimes committed by hardened offenders – campaign finance violations are not treated as felonies subject to criminal prosecution. They are routinely disposed of by the imposition of fines.

For example, as The Gothamist reports, New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, is currently facing likely fines for accepting illegal campaign contributions, improperly accounting for them, and then contemptuously ignoring requests for documentation by state election authorities.

Obviously, until we see the indictment (assuming the grand jury returns one), we will not know what other crime Bragg may allege Trump was supposedly concealing. But it would be truly shameful if this elected progressive Democrat district attorney, who is best known for downgrading felonies to misdemeanors (or dismissing them outright) is trying to inflate a misdemeanor into a felony by applying – to a national election for federal office – state campaign laws that are not even enforced criminally in New York. It would be still more evidence that Bragg’s crusade against Trump is nothing more than brass-knuckles politicization of law-enforcement power.

[/quote]

Blah, blah, blah more Fox propaganda. I can see why the conservatives wanted Twitter under total conservatives control.

Bestselling author. Contributing Editor at National Review & Fellow at NR Inst. Fox News Contributor. Former Chief Asst. U.S. Attorney says what?[/quote]

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