The Slate’s Sr. Writer: Hush Money Case Is ‘Not Just a Misdemeanor’ But Broke Felony Laws

EXCERPT:

STERN: "Well, you know, over the past year, I think Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and his team have made an extraordinarily strong case that this really was a felony offense under New York law, that it wasn’t just a misdemeanor involving some kind of low-level record-keeping crime, but that it was tied in fundamentally to federal and state laws involving campaign finance and election interference. That’s why District Attorney Bragg has made such an effort over and over again to say this is not just about a porn star or hush money, this is election interference. I think that's a really important point because we’re all watching these cases about 2020 get stuck in the lower courts, not go to trial. This is the first to go forward. There’s been a temptation among some cynics to say this one doesn’t really matter, it’s not a big deal. But the fact that it is fundamentally about honest elections and whether Trump can break all the rules that apply to everyone else, I think that matters and it really raises the stakes here. I was sort of convinced that this was the right time to bring these charges and that they were the right charges because the district attorney has shown that if Trump is found guilty of these offenses, that he truly did conspire to violate state and federal laws, that’s a serious offense and he should be held accountable."