Much has been said about the precarious nature of Alvin Bragg’s Trump indictment, and I won’t pretend to have read it all. But a reader sent me this. It’s not long, but here’s the crux. Alvin Bragg’s indictment of Trump never identifies a specific crime.
He’s been arrested for not breaking any laws under the presumption that they can come up with something along the way or not.
The defendant, in the County of New York and elsewhere, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof, made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise, to wit, an invoice from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and maintained by the Trump Organization.
There two elements to this offense:
- The entry made in the business records is false.AND
- The entry is made with intent to commit or conceal another crime.
BOTH elements have to be present.
The alleged “indictment” only states one of the two elements of the offense.
I’ll take the author (who hates Trump, by the way) at their word. This is effectively a blank indictment—a laundry list of allegations absent any enumeration of the law(s).
Note: here’s some corroboration.
There’s a curious omission in the Donald Trump indictment and statement of facts –
The specific federal law Trump violated. pic.twitter.com/bsM32x4jhn
— Techno Fog (@Techno_Fog) April 4, 2023
Here is the indictment that was just released this afternoon.
And here is the statement of facts.
The Manhattan DA came up with a long list of things that his office claims Donald Trump did or were done in his name but never cites any law that was broken as a result of the cited activity. In other words, here’s a bunch of records, and we’re going to arrest you for that even though we’ve failed to state why this broke the law.
This is not an insignificant detail.
Understand what is at stake here: It is entirely reasonable that if “blank” indictments can issue in this nation against Trump that they can issue against anyone at any time for any reason without stating the elements of an actual criminal offense the accused allegedly committed.
Fascism, baby. Random charges, an indictment and arrest, and no mention of the laws that were violated, probably because there are none. But they did it anyway. And a long list of politicians, pundits, and celebrities have shared thoughts about the impending indictment and the arrest and arraignment of Donald Trump. Most of them spoke without access to any material evidence of a crime, and it looks like none exists, so here’s your opportunity.
Would you like to retract or recant your verbal or written indictment of Trump, or do you support the government using force with blank indictments against your constituents, neighbors, non-citizens, randos with different opinions, or anyone anywhere that results in their arrest or detention at any time, for unspecified crimes?
Before you answer, remember that the people enforcing the blank indictment may not always be on your side of the aisle. That you could still be swept up on a similar indictment for not breaking any law.
Are you still good with this? If you are … you might be a fascist.
Call to action: Get out there and ask. Find people or politicians who mouthed off on social. Send an email to your elected officials. Ask them if they are good with this, and let us know if you get a response and what that is.
