Though Donald Trump was wrong when he said he expected to be arrested on Tuesday, the former president is not out of the woods yet on a case that involves a hush-money payment to a porn star.
But the larger issue is whether this sort of case is the one the state or federal prosecutors should be using if they decide to take the unprecedented step of charging a former president with breaking the law.
The short answer is no. Absolutely not.
Trump as president was impeached twice and acquitted both times; first on a charge of soliciting help from the president of Ukraine in digging up dirt on Joe Biden and his family, and then on charges related to the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Trump currently is under investigation for interference in Georgia after the 2020 election. And in a federal case, he is being investigated for keeping classified government documents at his home in Florida after leaving office.
At least Trump is creating jobs, because he needs a lot of lawyers to keep track of all these cases — while he’s seeking a third straight Republican nomination for the presidency in 2024.
Somehow, paying a woman to keep quiet about an alleged one-night stand many years ago — Trump denies that it occurred — doesn’t rise anywhere close to the level of any of these other cases, no matter how many hoops his attorneys allegedly jumped through to falsify business records and disguise the payment so it appeared to be related to something else.
It is true that people in all walks of life should be held accountable when they are suspected of breaking the law. It is also true that professional, well-educated people like Trump should be held to a high standard, simply because they are supposed to know better.
But it is further true that sometimes the suspects with the best pedigree and connections catch a break with law and order. The New York officials investigating the Stormy Daniels payoff should ask themselves if this should be one of those times.
Trump has already started stirring the pot with his supporters in anticipation of being indicted. In his message last weekend predicting imminent charges, he said his fans should be ready to protest and “take our nation back.” We saw how that turned out the last time the Trump faithful gathered for their peaceful Jan. 6 tour of the Capitol.
Prosecutors in New York, Georgia and at the U.S. Justice Department should tread carefully because their decisions ultimately will have political repercussions, since Trump is campaigning for the presidency.
If he did break the law, he should be held accountable in some way. But any criminal charges filed over the next 20 months are certain to give Trump the opportunity to wear a victim’s cloak, to claim once again that everyone’s out to get him, and that he’s never done anything wrong.
At the very least, that’s an unreasonable burden for allegations of a hush-money payment.
— Jack Ryan, McComb Enterprise-Journal
