Kudlow: My Non-Lawyer Questions About Political Persecution And Prosecution Of Donald Trump

As you know, President Trump has pleaded “not guilty” to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, charged by the grand jury convened by the Manhattan D.A., Alvin Bragg.

This was a case rejected by the Department of Justice, rejected by the Federal Election Commission, rejected by Mr. Bragg’s predecessor, Cyrus Vance Jr., and was initially rejected by Mr. Bragg himself. Now, he’s come up with 34 counts.

This is a guy who explicitly ran to “get Trump.” Remember? When he ran to get Mr. Trump, he had no evidence, no information — so, as you may guess, I don’t think much of Mr. Bragg, who has spent months going after Mr. Trump but failed to take down some of New York’s worst repeat offenders, including several with more than 100 arrests.

Many of them are still roaming the streets of the city. This year alone, New York has suffered 84 homicides and more than 3,400 robberies. Mr. Bragg apparently has no time for repeat criminals, but has plenty of time to go after Donald Trump.

A former U.S. attorney general, William Barr, is calling it the “epitome of prosecutorial abuse,” “a pathetically weak legal theory,” and “a crossing of the Rubicon.”

A former prosecutor, Andrew McCarthy, writes in the National Review, “This appears to be about as execrable an exercise of prosecutorial discretion as one can fathom.”

A former Federal Election Commission chairman, Bradley Smith, writes in the WSJ that “the ‘crime’ that Mr. Bragg claims is being covered up isn’t a crime at all.”

A Fox News legal analyst, Gregg Jarrett, calls the case against Mr. Trump a “politically motivated witch hunt.”

An influential congressman, Byron Donalds, refers to this judicial travesty as “political persecution.”

For my part, it’s political persecution and prosecution. By the way, as a non-lawyer, can I just ask a few questions, please?

Everyone refers to something called “hush money,” but we don’t know if there was any “hush money” from Mr. Trump. His disgraced former lawyer, the convicted perjurer Michael Cohen, has said on one occasion Mr. Trump paid it through him, but on another occasion has said Mr. Trump never knew anything about it.

The porn star Stormy Daniels in two letters has said there was no affair with Mr. Trump, though no one wants to refer to those letters.

Attorney Robert Costello, who once represented Cohen, told the grand jury that there were 315 e-mails they were not shown by D.A. Bragg, including evidence that Mr. Trump had no knowledge of what Cohen was doing. Just saying.

Remember: I’m the non-lawyer here. How about a venue change?

Mr. Bragg ran to get Mr. Trump in Manhattan. I don’t think there are any Republicans left in Manhattan — except our small weekly dinner group at Italian restaurants.

How about moving it to Staten Island? Plenty of patriots there.

What about the statute of limitations running out? For both misdemeanor and felony charges? What happened to them?

Also, just for one moment, away from the courtroom, what about the deep recession in manufacturing? Continued high inflation? The Saudis and the Russians jacking up oil prices just a couple of days after the Bragg indictment announcement — without a peep from President Biden?

Oh, yeah, and a Chinese balloon floating over the country, pausing just long enough to eavesdrop over our nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile systems.

Oh, and did I forget that the Mexican drug cartels run the southern border? And that concerned parents are fighting on a daily basis to get their kids a decent education?

Alvin Bragg is really just another left-wing apple. Donald Trump is still standing — proudly. I believe he’ll beat the rap, and then he’ll get on with the task of making America great again, again.

From Mr. Kudlow’s broadcast on Fox Business News.

Larry Kudlow was the Director of the National Economic Council under President Trump from 2018-2021. His Fox Business show "Kudlow" airs at 4 p.m &. and his radio show airs on 770 ABC from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.