Trump world’s current defense of the president is yeah, it’s a crime but he’s a sitting president so too bad and also it’s a crime but it’s a small crime, and if that doesn’t sway you, how about he is innocent because he didn’t know the campaign finance violation was a crime.
This last claim is Trump’s favorite, as Kellyanne Conway revealed in her epic failfest Thursday night on CNN.
Prosecutors would need to prove that Trump knew it was a crime.
… And here is Trump in 2012 showing that he knows about this very law as it applied to Democrat John Edwards, thus proving he “knew what the law forbade.†In fact, he adds for good measure: “a lot of very good lawyers†talked to him about the case.
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Trouble for Trump
For campaign finance crimes, need to prove he “knew what the law forbade.â€
Here’s President Trump in 2012 showing he knows about the law that applied to John Edwards.
Trump: “a lot of very good lawyers†talked to me about the case.
(h/t @renato_mariotti) pic.twitter.com/TJizXWb7t2— Ryan Goodman (@rgoodlaw) December 14, 2018
Goodman found that video because of this point made by former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Renato Mariotti:
Prosecutors would have to prove Trump "acted with knowledge that his course of conduct was unlawful and with the intent to do something the law forbids," or to put it another way, that he acted "with a bad purpose to disobey or disregard the law, rather than in good faith." https://t.co/c8NOosq8nZ
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) December 14, 2018
To be clear, prosecutors may be able to meet this burden. Trump's prior comments about the John Edwards case helps, plus the structure of the transactions strongly suggests an intent to disguise and hide them. Why go to such great lengths to hide something you thought was legal? https://t.co/Lj0ajZywhp
— Renato Mariotti (@renato_mariotti) December 14, 2018
Trump is not the political world novice he sold his base on being. He has long been a commentator on it and paid close attention to it, including other campaign finance violation cases like the Edwards’ case that also involved another woman. He knew exactly what he was doing when he did it and he knew it was not legal.
Trump thinks he’s safe because two DOJ opinions (not the be all end all, by the way) say a sitting president can’t be indicted.
Trump thinks he’s safe because he actually believes he can con law enforcement into not believing their own eyes and ears, just like he cons his base into believing what he says instead of the facts.
Trump is not safe. Trump might not be indicted, and if he is not after all of this evidence then it’s further proof that our system is designed to invite abuse and criminality from the wealthy and entitled, but he is not safe. Not at all.
Trump needs to stay a sitting president to keep from being indicted, if one buys these two DOJ opinions. And with his latest poll numbers and the awareness of Russian interference that illegally helped him in 2016, this would be an uphill battle. (Anyone who makes the argument that we don’t know if the Russian fake news on social media helped him obviously doesn’t live in Trump country; I do, and I know it helped him because it was *all* I heard from zombie’s attached to their Facebook news feed on their phones for months before the election.)
Trump is in trouble, his words are catching up with him at long last.
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