Alvin Bragg Makes History -- Preposterously
Alvin Bragg is to be commended for getting to trial on the Trump hush-payments case.
Lesser prosecutors would have been daunted by the prospect of creating a national melodrama and a norm-breaking prosecution of a former president over what is, in essence, a misdemeanor business-records charge.
They would have blanched at relying on serial perjurer Michael Cohen as a star witness.
They would have recognized the inherent ambiguity over whether the hush payments to Stormy Daniels were personal payments or campaign expenses.
They would have been reluctant to torture the law to stretch the statute of limitations just far enough to cover the events in question, and would have been too embarrassed by the chronological difficulty involved in arguing that events in 2017 influenced the 2016 election.
This is why federal prosecutors and Bragg's predecessor took a pass on this case, but Bragg wasn't going to let mere legal inadequacy stop him.
If all goes as planned for Bragg, before long he'll be known as the Manhattan DA who goes easy on disturbed men who punch old ladies on subway platforms but is hell on bookkeeping offenses that don't harm anyone, not even the tax collector.
The trial, now going through a difficult jury-selection process, is all about Trump, but the most important piece of the puzzle is Bragg, since no one else with an ounce of judgment would have brought this case.
As we know, it involves a $130,000 payment from former Trump fixer Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels right before the 2016 election to keep her quiet about an alleged affair she had with Trump a decade earlier.
Such a hush payment may be sleazy, but there is nothing illegal about it.
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