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Why didn't Trump's trial start years earlier? Blame Bill Barr
Why are Donald Trump's alleged crimes from 2016 being prosecuted now? In part because of former Attorney General Bill Barr's actions.
Link to tweet
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/didnt-trumps-trial-start-years-earlier-blame-bill-barr-rcna148036
So why is it that the case against the presumptive GOP nominee is only reaching a courtroom now? As it turns out, we know the answer — though it isn’t one Trump likes to talk about.
To briefly recap, as Election Day 2016 approached, Trump and his political operation were concerned about the public learning about his alleged sexual encounter with a porn star who goes by the name Stormy Daniels. With those fears in mind, the then-candidate and his team created a shell company, which Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, used to pay off Daniels, effectively buying her silence.
Soon after, Trump, according to prosecutors, falsified business records while making incremental payments to Cohen, reimbursing the lawyer for the scheme.
These are the same payments that ultimately sent Cohen to prison, which leads to the obvious question of why he, and not his former client — identified as “Individual 1” in court documents — faced serious consequences. After all, Cohen pleaded guilty to crimes he committed in coordination with Trump, and he produced evidence of Trump-signed checks.
As Rachel explained on last night’s show, the federal prosecutor overseeing the Southern District of New York at the time was Geoffrey Berman — a lifelong Republican, who worked on the Trump campaign and the Trump transition team, and who was chosen by Trump for the office. It was Berman who later wrote a book about his experiences, shedding light on what transpired in the Cohen case.......
Eventually, Trump’s Justice Department quietly let it be known that it was no longer examining allegations in the Cohen case, and two weeks later, prosecutors in New York started issuing subpoenas.
Why is the former president’s case only coming to trial now? In part because the Trump administration politicized the legal process and perverted a federal investigation without cause.
The former president has the entire scandal backwards. He believes the real controversy is that the case wasn’t prosecuted sooner, when it reality, it would’ve been prosecuted sooner had partisans on his team not corrupted the process on his behalf.
To briefly recap, as Election Day 2016 approached, Trump and his political operation were concerned about the public learning about his alleged sexual encounter with a porn star who goes by the name Stormy Daniels. With those fears in mind, the then-candidate and his team created a shell company, which Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, used to pay off Daniels, effectively buying her silence.
Soon after, Trump, according to prosecutors, falsified business records while making incremental payments to Cohen, reimbursing the lawyer for the scheme.
These are the same payments that ultimately sent Cohen to prison, which leads to the obvious question of why he, and not his former client — identified as “Individual 1” in court documents — faced serious consequences. After all, Cohen pleaded guilty to crimes he committed in coordination with Trump, and he produced evidence of Trump-signed checks.
As Rachel explained on last night’s show, the federal prosecutor overseeing the Southern District of New York at the time was Geoffrey Berman — a lifelong Republican, who worked on the Trump campaign and the Trump transition team, and who was chosen by Trump for the office. It was Berman who later wrote a book about his experiences, shedding light on what transpired in the Cohen case.......
Eventually, Trump’s Justice Department quietly let it be known that it was no longer examining allegations in the Cohen case, and two weeks later, prosecutors in New York started issuing subpoenas.
Why is the former president’s case only coming to trial now? In part because the Trump administration politicized the legal process and perverted a federal investigation without cause.
The former president has the entire scandal backwards. He believes the real controversy is that the case wasn’t prosecuted sooner, when it reality, it would’ve been prosecuted sooner had partisans on his team not corrupted the process on his behalf.
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