Donald Trump’s legal team has been masterful in pushing back these federal indictments to start to flirt with being post-election.
One case, however, will now definitely take place before the general election, with a verdict and sentence handed down before then as well.
That would be the hush money case brought by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, as a trial date was just set for April 15.
Talking Points…
- Trial date issued
- Trump responds
- Analysis
On Monday, the ruling came down that the New York hush money trial would be set for April 15. This was far sooner than most had expected because of the Trump immunity ruling that could impact this case. The Supreme Court is not set to hear arguments on that until late April, with a ruling expected to come down no earlier than June unless the court expedites the decision.
With this case now being moved up to April, Trump could be tried and convicted in a case where the decision could be nullified by a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity. Now, most legal experts do not expect the court to give Trump blanket immunity for his alleged crimes, but that does not change the fact that his appeals on this front have not yet been exhausted.
More important for Trump is that this case will clearly come to a conclusion, with a verdict and possible sentence issued well before the general election. If Bragg winds up getting a conviction on a single felony charge, Trump stands to lose about 30% or so of his support, well within the margin of difference between Trump and Biden in most battleground states.
Needless to say, Donald Trump was not happy when the trial date was set, once again calling these trials “election interference.” He added:
“I don’t know how you can have a trial that’s going on right in the middle of an election. Not fair. Not fair. It’s not fair at all.”
Unfortunately, for Trump, being in an election does not automatically delay criminal proceedings. Now, he can argue all day that the charges are a bit zealous, but you can see where this would go if a ruling was handed down that no criminal proceedings can take place if the accused is involved in an election. If that were the case, every criminal in jail right now would be running for office. Yet, Trump continues to push this angle, having also stated:
“They can’t win an election because of the borders, because of energy prices, because of inflation, because of Afghanistan … he can’t win because of Russia, Russia, Russia, because of all the problems, because of Ukraine being attacked by Russia, and he can’t win because of the Oct. 7 attack of Israel, which he should have never allowed to happen.
“So what they do is they do election interference, which is court cases, and let’s try and tie him up and let’s take as much of his money as possible.”
This case could be a problem for Trump because of the way that Bragg stacked the charges. As I have stated in previous reports, these types of cases are usually settled with a plea deal that results in a fine, penalties, back taxes, and a slap on the wrist. They are most assuredly not formed with more than two dozen felony counts for ledger entries.
This could be the election for Donald Trump. He has stated that he will continue to appeal the case, but this is also running up massive legal bills for Trump, which he is paying for out of campaign funds. His campaign, PAC, and the RNC are all cash-strapped right now, which is why you are not seeing Trump on the campaign trail very much and no rallies.
With Trump’s campaign cash situation, the only way he will be able to hold rallies now is to have candidates he is backing to hold a rally and invite Trump as a speaker so the funding goes through their campaign, not Trump’s. This will be a significant issue for Trump down the stretch drive of the election because Biden’s campaign and the DNC are flush with cash, and money tends to win elections. If Trump also has to fight off a guilty verdict as well as the campaign funds challenge, we could see a big swing in polling as we get closer to the election. The point is, do not get overconfident right now because of current polling because a lot can change in seven months.
