The New York state criminal trial about to begin April 15 concerns whether former President Donald Trump lied on his expense reports to cover hush money payments to pornographic film star Stormy Daniels before the presidential election in 2016. NY argues that by doing so, Trump violated New York State laws, nearly all of which involve misdemeanors. The indictment implies that Trump’s alleged lies and cover-ups constitute a violation of federal campaign finance laws, making the crimes more serious and justifying the indictment.
First, the policy of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is not to prosecute such cases, which is one of many possible reasons why the federal government has not brought any charges against Trump over the Stormy silencing issue Daniels. Another reason is that the Justice Department may believe that Donald Trump’s expense reports were as truthful as Trump claims them to be. Second, when former President Bill Clinton perjured himself and obstructed justice by denying under oath that he had sexual relations with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, both in a deposition and before a federal grand jury , the judgment of the United States Senate was that Bill Clinton’s “lies about sex under oath” did not disqualify him from the presidency.
430 law professors signed a letter to the Senate on November 6, 1998 stating that “making false statements about sexual improprieties” under oath before a federal grand jury “is not a sufficient constitutional basis to justify the trial and removal of the President of the United States”. States.” Harvard law professor Cass Sunstein wrote on October 4, 1998 in THE Washington Post that mere lies about sex under oath were not, in his view, disqualifying behavior of a president of the United States.
Both the law professors’ letter and Professor Cass Sunstein’s editorial sought to argue that perjury about a person’s private sexual life fell into a different category than perjury about the performance of a president’s political duties, which would be a disqualifying offense for a president. dedicate onself. It has been noted that people often lie about adulterous sexual relationships to protect their spouses and preserve their marriages, and not to retain or win the presidency.
Of course, this is exactly why Donald Trump allegedly paid Stormy Daniels what is alleged to be hush money because Trump’s alleged affair with Daniels coincided with his wife Melania giving birth to Trump’s son Barron. Former President Bill Clinton’s perjury under oath before a federal grand jury led to his acquittal by the Senate in the impeachment trial and, after Clinton left office, the only penalty he paid for his lying under oath about sex to a federal grand jury was disbarment. and the stipulation of the plea agreement. Donald Trump’s alleged lies about sex in filing his expense accounts are minor compared to Bill Clinton’s lies about sex under oath before a federal grand jury, at a time when he swore he would see to it that the laws were faithfully executed . As many recall, Clinton’s DNA was found on a white spot on Monika Lewinsky’s blue dress, proving that he had indeed had sexual intercourse with Lewinsky.
In 2004, Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards paid a woman $1 million in hush money to cover up an alleged adulterous affair that resulted in the birth of an illegitimate child. The US Department of Justice prosecuted John Edwards who defended himself by arguing that he was trying to protect his wife from learning of his adultery and that the lies about sex and the silence about the money to cover them up were not an illegal campaign donation and not declared. The trial ended with a hung jury, and the U.S. Department of Justice refused to prosecute John Edwards again. The Department adopted a formal position that the Department of Justice would no longer prosecute hush money payments as campaign finance violations. Lies about sex were not eligible to be prosecuted as campaign finance violations. Again, this explains why the federal government refused to prosecute Donald Trump for his hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and others.
Edwards’ behavior resulted in far more hidden money than Trump had paid, as well as the birth of an illegitimate child. If what John Edwards did wasn’t a prison-worthy crime, then what Donald Trump did by secretly paying money to Stormy Daniels doesn’t disqualify him from running for president either.
The disparate treatment of John Edwards and Donald Trump for paying hush money and lying about having done so suggests misconduct by the New York State Attorney’s Office. Even if Trump is convicted in the show trial that begins April 15, voters should give him the same pass for lying to cover up the adultery given to Bill Clinton and John Edwards.