Analysis | A look into Donald Trump’s indictment
Following the former president’s indictment earlier this month for hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, he becomes the first current or former president to face alleged criminal charges. WikiCommons
There has been a rise of more than $15 million in donations for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign since being indicted for 34 counts of falsifying business records related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
New York County District Attorney Alvin Braggs made the case against Trump this past summer. A grand jury was enrolled in January, and Trump was indicted on March 30. Braggs argued that the charges are a felony since the federal campaign finance crimes related to him are trying to conceal the hush money.
Lindsey Hagen, a second-year student at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law, said that while it’s hard to know the outcome of the proceedings without seeing the evidence, she thinks it will be an interesting case.
“I believe that choosing whether or not to prosecute Trump for his alleged crimes is inevitably political,” Hagen said.
The indictment is based on Trump’s payments to Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, who paid Daniels a total of $130,000 dollars in pursuit to cover up Trump’s affair with the adult star.
James Moore, a junior political science major who serves as the vice president for Chapman Democrats, believes that Trump might not necessarily be gaining new followers. Rather, it might just be his existing supporters that are becoming more encouraging.
Cohen said at a press conference on March 15 that Trump will be held accountable for his actions.
“At the end of the day, Donald Trump should be held accountable for his dirty deeds,” Cohen said.
“Let those in his orbit that are truly accountable, like Bill Barr, who he used to weaponize the Justice Department against his critics, let them be held accountable because it saves and it preserves democracy,” Cohen said in an interview with CBS.
According to prosecutors, Trump hid money reimbursement payments that Cohen made by marking monthly checks for “legal services.” Cohen had previously revealed one of the 35,000 checks while testifying in front of Congress in 2019. The payments to Cohen were discussed as “attorney payments,” according to prosecutors.
“The People of the State of New York allege that Donald J. Trump repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election,” Braggs wrote in a press release.
According to Thomas Grecco, a junior business administration major and the head of public relations for Chapman Democrats, it is important that any influential political figure should not be placed above the law.
“Actions have consequences, and I hope the justice system rules fairly in this case,” Grecco said. “Having a figure with such distasteful conduct run free from the law would be tragic.”
Ethan Oppenheim, a junior double major political science and philosophy student as well as the vice president of Chapman Republicans, believes many of the accusations against Trump are true.
“The question is whether these actions are legal violations worthy of conviction, such as if he violated major election laws,” Oppenheim told the Panther.
An April 18 poll from CNBC found that 58% of participants in an All-America Economic Survey did not believe Trump’s indictment would have an effect on their vote.
“I do not believe the indictment will have much of an effect on the general election in 2024,” Oppenheim said, “especially given that his other affairs are far worse than that for which he has been indicted.”
If Braggs is not able to put forward the charges as a felony, then Trump still has the chance of facing 24 misdemeanor charges. This would result as a political victory for Trump, according to Politico.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers are currently exchanging documents and evidence and filing motions. They are also trying to prevent Trump from posting on social media.
Yet, this has not stopped the former president, as he has stated on the Truth Social app he founded that he does not believe he can get a fair trial in Manhattan. His lawyers are hoping to have his case moved to a different court, according to the New York Times.
“Trump’s wealth is more likely to have an impact on the outcome than his status as a former president,” Hagen said. “He will have access to the best legal defense money can buy.”
Trump did not talk to reporters in New York or speak much during his court hearing. However, he gave a speech in Mar-a-Lago upon his return home, where he criticized the hearing and said that he was dealing with a ‘Trump-hating judge.’
Oppenheim told the Panther that even though he does not approve Trump’s personal attacks against Braggs, there is an extent of political motivation behind the current investigation of the former president.
Moore said this indictment has portrayed the close intertwinement between law and politics.
“Any politician that faces the court could say that — it’s kind of unfalsifiable,” Moore said. “Trump made some politically-motivated executive decisions that affected sentencing, such as pardoning Dinesh D’Souza for illegal campaign contributions. These are obviously not comparable, nor is hypocrisy a good argument.”
Trump was silent throughout his hearing, and the New York Police Department was on high alert during the former president’s visit to New York in case of demonstrations erupting from the supporters.
Trump’s official Republican presidential primary starts in February 2024. His next court hearing will be approximately two months prior on December 4.