Trump Was Convicted of Interfering With the 2016 Election. 2020 Could Be Next.

      Vindication. That is the one word that likely describes what Alvin Bragg is feeling right now. In the exactly 14 months between when Bragg announced Trump's indictment on 34 felony counts of falsification of business records and the conviction, people derided Bragg's case as the "porn star hush money case," when, as Bragg was able to prove, it was a criminal scheme to unlawfully interfere with the 2016 election. He was criticized before this for not charging Trump when he wasn't ready to.

     However, this case wasn't even Bragg's first prosecution of Trumpworld. The Trump Organization was convicted in December 2022 of fraud related to taxes on fringe benefits; CFO Allen Weisselberg was sentenced to five months in prison on 15 charges for the same fraud scheme. Weisselberg is currently serving another five-month sentence for perjury committed during the Letitia James property valuation fraud civil case.

     This experience worked in Bragg's favor in the 2016 election interference case, which is the first case in which a former president of the United States has been put on trial and convicted on criminal charges. It is significant in several other ways. It further destroys anything that Donald Trump could claim to be a positive legacy, proving in a court of law that he not only lost outright in 2020 and not only lost the popular vote in 2016, but that he only won the electoral vote in the 2016 election because of a criminal conspiracy. When Donald Trump is convicted and sentenced in relation to his future criminal trials, he will have a criminal history that will earn him a longer stint in prison, and I do mean when.

     If Bragg's 2022 case was a practice run for the 2016 election trial, then the 2016 election trial has laid down a roadmap for the two felony cases Trump faces for trying to overturn the 2020 election. I believe the 2020 election interference case in Washington, D.C. can still go to trial before the 2020 election. The Supreme Court is currently handling two cases that are relevant to this indictment: a challenge to the obstruction of an official proceeding charge and Trump's claim of presidential immunity. The Supreme Court will rule on both of these cases this month.

     I have zero faith in this corrupt MAGA Supreme Court to do the right thing. However, even if the worst happens, if they rule in Trump's favor in both cases, it's not going to make the D.C. case go away. Jack Smith's indictment describes dozens of actions that violated four criminal statutes in the United States federal code. At worst, Smith would have to drop one or two charges and trim back some of the alleged actions in the indictment. That would still leave Trump facing up to ten years in prison for conspiracy to defraud the government and deprive people of their right to vote. Judge Chutkan is a good judge, and I still believe that this case could be brought to trial in August and wrap up before the November election.

     There's one job we ordinary Americans have this year, and that is to vote. If Trump gets into the White House in November, he'll make both of his federal cases go away. If he doesn't, he'll be convicted of dozens more felony charges and he will serve time in prison. The fact that Donald Trump is running in 2024 is a travesty, but not one that we have the opportunity to change. He's now been held accountable for influencing the 2016 election. If we defeat Trump and re-elect President Biden in November, we can make sure he is held accountable for his other crimes.