Now We Know Why They Wanted to Keep the Trump Indictment Sealed

With the indictment and now arrest of Donald Trump, we’ve officially entered a new and very troubling phase in our country’s history. In this new phase prosecutors use their position to punish political enemies for made-up crimes – and half of the country cheers it, believing that their own personal animus toward someone or even a simple policy disagreement means that person should be locked up. There’s no critical thought involved, no sober consideration of the rule of law and evaluation of whether the facts even remotely meet the elements of a crime; these prosecutors act based on the shrieking of the masses and their own hunger for power.

During the few weeks since Trump announced that he was going to be indicted, official news has been almost impossible to come by. What the public knew in the lead-up was mostly as a result of leaks from DA Bragg’s office and speculation from political insiders and pundits. When Trump surrendered to authorities, was processed, and then escorted into the courtroom, we still didn’t know exactly what crime(s) our former president was going to be charged with. It was only once we were 20 minutes into the arraignment proceedings that we learned that he has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. When the indictment was published, it was immediately clear that they kept it under wraps because it’s so flimsy and utterly laughable. As our Nick Arama predicted, Bragg’s engaging in “charge stacking,” a practice that is frowned-upon as an abusive tactic, the “second charge” that would possibly make the offense a felony is unclear, and the actions Bragg’s saying constitute the falsifying took place so long ago that the statute of limitations has expired.