That is why a legally weak and politically motivated indictment is poisonous to the core of a functioning democracy, not least because the mere bringing of the indictment—the mere casting of the stone alone—does great damage to an individual’s reputation whether the stone hits its target or not. Harm, almost always irreparably, is done.
"There were others indicted this past week in Georgia—several of them attorneys who have represented Pres. Trump—but because all of this is about politically destroying Trump, his case is the one I’m going to focus on.
"I would preface my analysis by suggesting that by indicting these other individuals, the prosecution is likely “chilling” them … making them very reluctant to be available as witnesses for Pres. Trump in his defense case. The reason being that a witness who has been indicted themselves would be worrying about being cross-examined by a prosecutor in Trump’s case and possibly damaging the indicted person’s own criminal case.
"Such a move by the prosecution is not unprecedented but it adds to the highly politicized nature of what many are already calling a “show trial.” (I’ll leave for another day how such a tactic is not “obstruction of justice” and/or “tampering with witnesses” by the prosecution because you could argue that it is).
"The statute being used here is Georgia’s RICO law which generally mirrors the federal RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) statute which was originally created to catch Mafia bosses but has often been twisted by prosecutors into a legal “hammer,” and used to charge multiple, often-attenuated criminal offenses. A RICO case requires a “shared enterprise”—like a business—and the combination of, for example, an attorney and his client has never been legally construed as an “enterprise,” nor is there an easily identifiable group here allegedly participating in one." . . .
Donald Trump arrest: Charges against the former president are weak and dangerous (afr.com)
The upshot is that the timing of the hush-money charges against Trump might be potentially putting US democracy in more danger, not less. No one should be above prosecution. But prosecutorial discretion, properly exercised, might have enabled Trump to be charged with his more serious crimes first, rather than muddying the waters of the criminal process as the hush-money charges may do.
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