Unless you are living under a rock, you know that Donald Trump was found guilty in the state of NY for falsifying business records to conceal a federal crime. The records were related to legal hush money payments which NY state says should have been listed as a campaign contribution.

The FEC

In 2021 Trump was accused of falsifying business records and the FEC found no evidence of it. Presidential campaign finance law is federal  meaning a violation is a federal, not state crime

The Hill: FEC drops investigation into Trump hush money payments.

The FEC voted 4-1 to close the inquiry after failing to find that Trump or his campaign “knowingly and willfully” violated campaign finance law when his former attorney Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from disclosing an alleged affair.

 

While the FEC did not find Trump did any wrong doing, they did find in 2022 Clinton reported a campaign contribution as a legal fee violating federal law. (Sound familiar?)

 

CBS News: FEC fines Hillary Clinton campaign and Democratic Party, clears "Steele dossier" author of wrongdoing

The Federal Election Commission has fined Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign $8,000 and the Democratic National Committee $105,000 for obscuring their funding of the "Steele dossier," a 2016 opposition research report that sought to highlight alleged links between Donald Trump and Russia.

 

The NYC connection

Both Trump and Clintons campaign were based in NYC thus subject to the same NY laws. The DA before Alvin Bragg was Cyrus Vance Jr.. He declined to bring charges against Clinton or Trump in regards to the FEC. 

 

Political pressure

Alvin Bragg ran for office on prosecuting Trump, it was no secret. But what many don't know is Bragg himself declined to prosecute Trump on FEC violations until pressure got involved.

AP News: Prosecutors in charge of Trump criminal probe have resigned

02/23/2022. The New York Times, citing sources, reported that the grand jury investigation had stalled, with no sessions in the last month, and that Dunne and Pomerantz quit after Bragg raised doubts about pursuing a case against Trump himself. No former president has ever been charged with a crime.

So far, the nearly three-year investigation has resulted only in tax fraud charges against Trump’s company, the Trump Organization, and its longtime finance chief Allen Weisselberg relating to lucrative fringe benefits such as rent, car payments and school tuition.

 

The indictment

ManhattanDA.org: District Attorney Bragg Announces 34-Count Felony Indictment of Former President Donald J. Trump

APRIL 4, 2023. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. today announced the indictment of DONALD J. TRUMP, 76, for falsifying New York business records in order to conceal damaging information and unlawful activity from American voters before and after the 2016 election

 

Anyone paying attention will see similarities to the Clinton campaign. The only difference is Clinton was found guilty of the federal crime while Trump was not.

 

How is this selective?

You have a Democrat DA who made a campaign promise to prosecute Trump. And you have 2 people, both politicians, both political rivals, both having campaigns based in NYC and both accused of falsifying records and a FEC crime. The difference? One was a Democrat who was fined for violating federal law with no charges from the Manhattan DA. The other is a Republican who was found not to have violated the same federal law but was charged by the Manhattan DA. 

For both a falsifying records charge was beyond the statute of limitations but only for one was it linked to a federal crime extending that limit. Selective? You decide.