The stakes are high for Manhattan’s District Attorney Alvin Bragg as he begins his historic prosecution of a former president.
Its success or failure seems to hinge on an untested legal theory – whether a state prosecutor can invoke a federal crime that was never proven.
Ambrosio Rodriguez, a former prosecutor who says he is no fan of the former president, believes the case legitimizes Trump’s ongoing argument that he is being prosecuted unfairly because of who he is.
Rodriguez argues that the case relies on old allegations, noting that federal prosecutors had investigated and declined to bring charges.
“This is a waste of time and a bad idea, and not good for the country,” he told the BBC. “This seems just a political need and want to get Trump no matter what the costs are.”
Others disagree. Nick Akerman, who worked on the Watergate prosecution, says it’s a serious case.
“This is about an effort to defraud the American voters in 2016 to keep them from learning material information that would have affected their vote,” he told the BBC, referring to Trump’s alleged efforts to hide payments reimbursing his then lawyer, Michael Cohen.
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