Jury selection began today in New York City for Donald Trump’s supposed “hush money” payments to an adult film star in 2016. Most legal analysts have described the case as being bizarre, but since the jury pool is being pulled from Manhattan, it’s not inconceivable that the liberal Democrat judge in the case, Juan Merchan, and progressive, Trump-hating District Attorney Alvin Bragg might be able to bring back a guilty verdict, even if it is later tossed out on appeal. So what might that mean for Donald Trump? He has one of the best legal teams available, so the long-term impacts may wind up being negligible. But the reliably liberal outlet NPR has identified another possible problem for the former president. If he is found guilty of a felony, he will still be able to run for president, but he might not be able to vote for himself. This week NPR gleefully launches into an examination of whether or not Trump will be allowed to cast a vote in his own favor.
Pundits and analysts have spent much of the past year debating the political impact should Donald Trump be convicted before November’s election of any of the 88 felony charges he faces.
On Monday, jury selection begins for the first 34 of those charges, in New York.
But one unprecedented oddity lost in the mix is that just a single conviction in any of the cases that Trump faces could put his ability to cast a general election ballot for himself at risk.
NPR goes on at great length to explain the conditions under which people convicted of various crimes can lose their right to vote and how long that right might be suspended. At least in theory, it’s true that Trump would be casting his vote in Florida where he now resides. Florida suspends a convict’s right to vote until they have completed any assigned prison sentence and paid off fines associated with the case. The vast majority of people convicted of what Trump is charged with in New York are only given fines and/or a suspended sentence, but with Alvin Bragg running the show, they may try for a jail sentence. If that doesn’t happen, Trump’s right to vote won’t be impacted assuming he pays any fine that is imposed.
The bigger question is what any of this has to do with anything. Like any other citizen, Donald Trump only gets to cast one vote. Given the lead he currently holds in Florida, the loss of that vote is unlikely to keep him from carrying the state. It’s a meaningless bit of trivia in what is a much larger and darker story. Still, NPR’s writer (Miles Parks) clearly seems to enjoy being able to attach his byline to any story about Donald Trump’s legal issues. It wouldn’t be surprising to learn that he’s a big fan of Alvin Bragg.
Calling the underlying case against Trump “a stretch” would be an understatement, as many legal analysts have previously noted. It seems clear that Trump arranged with his then-attorney Michael Cohen to make a payment of $130,000 to adult film star Stormy Daniels. This was allegedly a “hush money” payment to ensure that she wouldn’t go public with claims that she and Trump had engaged in a sexual relationship.
Trump claims it never happened. Given his dating history, I wouldn’t be shocked if the story were true, but that’s really not the point here. Cohen was, at the time, Trump’s lawyer, and lawyers are paid to make problems go away when possible. Having that story show up in the media could have been problematic for Trump in terms of both his family life and his political aspirations. Arranging such a payment could readily be seen as part of the attorney’s “legal services” and Trump would obviously have had to reimburse him. It’s also worth noting that Cohen was later convicted of lying to Congress, so his viability as a witness might be in question.
This entire circus is just more election interference, plain and simple. Even if Bragg and Merchan bring back a guilty verdict, Trump’s chances of turning that around on appeal should be better than average. Of course, by then the election will be over and that’s all this case has been about from the beginning.
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