Apr 24, 2024 By Kent James 6 min read

Republicans claim that deranged Democrats are so opposed to former President Donald Trump that they will do anything to keep him out of office, including “weaponizing” the law against him.

The reality is that four different juries of American citizens have found credible evidence that Trump broke the law almost 90 times. President Biden is not using the U.S Department of Justice for political purposes; Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special prosecutor specifically to avoid even the appearance of political motivation. Critics on the left believe Garland has been overly cautious, which they fear will allow Trump to delay the trials until after the election, which may enable him to avoid being held accountable if he wins. The trials in New York and Georgia are being led by local prosecutors, not the Biden administration, because Trump has been accused of violating state laws.

Trump supporters claim these are show trials, and Trump really didn’t do anything wrong. In the New York civil trial he already lost, Trump exaggerated the value of his real estate in order to get cheaper loans. While it can be challenging to assign a value to real estate, because each property is unique and things like interest rates that are not tied to the property can have a big impact on value, some aspects of real estate are not subjective, like the physical size of a property. Trump claimed his apartment was three times bigger than it actually was; Forbes valued the apartment at $56 million, while Trump valued it, based on the inflated size, at more than $200 million. That’s not a negligible difference.

As long as Trump did not default on the loan, what’s the harm? The harm is that he got a better rate than his credit warranted, so the banks lending him money were not getting paid enough to take the risk to lend him money. While Trump stealing from the banks probably won’t lose him many votes, he also hurt other people trying to borrow money. Applicants who didn’t inflate their financial status would lose out to Trump, who did. Business works most efficiently when parties tell the truth, so financial decisions can be made based on facts. Additionally, lying on financial documents was one of the major causes of the 2008 financial crisis, where “liar loans” – mortgage brokers encouraged borrowers to do things like inflate their income to qualify for a larger loan – led to many defaults and almost collapsed the banking system.

In the Stormy Daniels “hush money” case, Trump did not violate the law by cheating on his wife. He violated the law by paying Daniels hush money to help him win an election and not reporting it honestly.

Trump clearly thought that if the public found out about him sleeping with a porn star it might hurt him politically. As a businessman, Trump thinks in terms of money; he would not have paid her $130,000 if he didn’t think he would get something of value. John Edwards, a former Democratic senator from North Carolina and the party’s vice-presidential candidate in 2004, was prosecuted for a similar violation. He used campaign funds to support his mistress and their child. Politicians need to compete based on the same rules, and hiding things from the voters is not good for democracy.

The Georgia election case is very serious; Trump was recorded on a phone call trying to get Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to “find 11,780 votes” to help him win the state after Biden had already been declared the victor. He also threatened Raffensperger: “It’s more illegal for you than it is for them (the people he claimed were committing election fraud), because you know what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal offense, and you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.”

Trump also pressured state officials in Arizona and Michigan to change results. If the sitting president pressuring local officials to find him votes that they didn’t record through their normal procedures is not illegal, then why even have laws governing elections?

The final case revolves around classified documents kept after leaving office. The Espionage Act governs the handling of classified documents. Presidents handle a lot of documents, so they should be given some leeway; both former Vice President Mike Pence and President Biden were also accused of taking documents they should not have, and they were not prosecuted. The difference, however, is that they both did so by accident, were open about reporting the transgression, and then corrected it as soon as possible. Trump, on the other hand, denied it happened, lied about what he had turned over, and hid documents from investigators.

While it is fair to argue that too many documents are classified, making mishandling them much more likely, government employees need to obey existing laws. Ironically, people who wanted to put Hillary in jail because a few documents that were at one point classified were stored on her personal server, which arguably cost her the 2016 election, are suddenly fine with Trump showing classified documents to supporters to impress them. Trump was actually recorded saying “As president I could have declassified it, now I can’t” pointing out that the document was “still a secret.” He knowingly violated the law.

Trump’s behavior shows he has no respect for the law. He adheres to Richard Nixon’s post-Watergate excuse for illegal behavior that defines authoritarian leadership: “If the president does it, it’s not illegal.”

Trump is not being singled out because his political opponents have power. He is being prosecuted because there is evidence he broke that law. We like to profess that no one is above the law; if Trump is not prosecuted for his alleged crimes, we are not the country we claim to be. As damning as the evidence appears to be, Trump may yet be found not guilty in the trials he faces, though his persistent efforts to delay his trips to court suggests he isn’t confident the trials will clear his name.

We should let the legal system do its job and respect the outcome.

Kent James is a member of East Washington’s borough council.