Source: Common Dreams
by Stephen R Weissman
“In May 2024, a New York City jury convicted Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump of 34 felonies of falsifying business records with an intent to defraud, including an intent to ‘commit, aid, or conceal another crime’. Days earlier, Justice Juan Merchan had convened counsel for a pre-charge conference to discuss their recommendations for jury instructions. There, Trump’s defense team, led by Todd Blanche, failed to propose a key legal requirement for what the prosecution called the ‘most obvious’ other crime: conspiracy to promote an election through the ‘unlawful means’ of violating Federal Election Campaign Act contribution limits. Under reigning federal precedents, there could be no criminal violation of FECA unless the conduct was ‘willful’ (defined as ‘knowing it was unlawful’). Yet the defense put forth the term ‘willfully’ without saying what it meant!” (09/17/26)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/todd-blanche-incompetent