The New York state criminal trial, scheduled to begin April 15, will address whether former President Donald Trump lied in expense reports to cover up hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. NY claims Trump violated New York state laws, many of which involved misdemeanors. Prosecutors are implying that President Trump's claims of lies and concealment are violations of federal campaign finance laws, making misdemeanors more serious and justifying prosecution.
First, it is the policy of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) not to prosecute such cases, which is one of many possible reasons why the federal government did not indict Trump over the Stormy Daniels silencing matter. Another reason is that the Justice Department may believe that Donald Trump's spending reports are truthful, as Trump claims. Second, the United States ruled that former President Bill Clinton committed perjury and participated in obstruction of justice by testifying under oath and denying to a federal grand jury that he had sexual relations with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. The Senate ruled that Bill Clinton's “lied about having sexual intercourse under oath” does not disqualify him from holding the office of president.
430 law professors swore under oath before a federal grand jury on November 6, 1998, that “making false statements about sexual impropriety” is “not a sufficient constitutional basis to justify the trial and removal of a President of the United States.” signed the letter to the Senate. Note,” Harvard Law Professor Cass Sunstein wrote on October 4, 1998: that much washington post He believed that a simple lie about a sworn sexual relationship was not a disqualifying act from being president of the United States.
A letter from law professors and an op-ed by Professor Cass Sunstein sought to argue that perjury about a person's private sex life falls into a different category from perjury about the performance of a president's political duties, and that it could be a disqualifying offense. It has been noted that people often lie about adultery not to retain or win the presidency, but to protect their spouses and preserve their marriages.
Of course, this is why Donald Trump allegedly paid Stormy Daniels what is known as a hush money. This is because Trump and Daniels' affair coincided with the time when his wife Melania gave birth to Trump's son, Barron. Former President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial after appearing under oath before a federal grand jury, and the only punishment he paid for lying under oath about a sexual relationship to a federal grand jury after he left office was expulsion. And the beginning of plea bargaining. Claims that Donald Trump lied about his gender when filing spending accounts are trivial compared to Bill Clinton's lie about his gender under oath before a federal grand jury when he swore to see to it that the laws were faithfully enforced. As many remember, Clinton's DNA was found on a white stain on Monica Lewinsky's blue dress, proving that Clinton did indeed have a sexual relationship with Lewinsky.
In 2004, Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards paid a woman $1 million in hush money to cover up allegations of adultery that led to the birth of an illegitimate child. The U.S. Department of Justice indicted John Edwards, who defended himself by claiming he was trying to protect his wife from knowledge of his adultery and that the lies about her sexuality and hush money to cover it up were not illegal and undeclared campaign contributions. I did. The trial resulted in a hung jury and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to re-indict John Edwards. The Justice Department took the official position that it would not prosecute because the campaign financing violated the hush money payments. Lying about sex is not good enough to be prosecuted for campaign finance violations. Again, this explains why the federal government declined to prosecute Donald Trump for paying hush money to Stormy Daniels and others.
Edwards' actions involved far more money than Trump paid and the birth of an illegitimate child. If John Edwards wasn't a prisoner-worthy felon, Donald Trump's hush money payments to Stormy Daniels wouldn't disqualify him from running for president.
The disparate treatment of John Edwards and Donald Trump, who paid hush money and lied about doing so, suggests misconduct by New York prosecutors. Even if Trump is found guilty in the sham trial that is scheduled to begin April 15, voters should give him the same permission to lie as they did to cover up Bill Clinton and John Edwards' adultery.