Columnist was just whitewashing a crime
Bryon York’s Jan. 16 commentary is another example of whitewashing a Trump crime.
York, like so many Trump apologists, cavalierly refers to Trump’s New York hush money case as a “bookkeeping” case, ignoring the purpose behind the fraudulent records and the depths of Trump’s deceit — Trump wanting to conceal public disclosure of a sexual encounter with an adult film actress paid for her silence after the public listened to his disgusting comments on the Access Hollywood tape. He then falsified business records to cast payments to her as legal fees.
Who can forget the handwritten document summarizing the payments to Michael Cohen?
York castigates Alvin Bragg for bringing the charges just as the 2024 primaries and caucuses were getting under way. York wants us to believe that the charges were politically motivated, when, at the same time, he wants us to believe Trump’s crimes were not motivated to interfere with the 2016 election. I call this rope-a-dope journalism and hypocrisy.
And let’s not forget what caused Alvin Bragg’s delay in making his charges. He waited until after federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York had officially declined to prosecute Trump for similar charges — a decision that was rooted in Bill Barr interference — to start his investigation even though they charged, prosecuted and secured a guilty plea from Michael Cohen for the same crimes.
York’s opinion is aimed at eliciting sympathy for Trump: “But the fact that there will be no jail or probation for Trump does not mean he has not paid a high price for what at bottom was baseless and politically targeted prosecution.”
So, now it’s poor Donald? Give me a break. See no evil, hear no evil and we find ourselves engulfed by evil.
William Dean Bruno
Sugar Grove