The Left’s Lawfare Will Destroy American Democracy

Government of the people, by the people, for the people has become government of the lawyer, by the lawyer, for the lawyer – and in New York, that recipe now threatens to destroy the nation.

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The idea that a rogue judge can exploit a rarely-used statute intended to prosecute real-life cases of fraud in order to bring down the leading presidential candidate should outrage all Americans, regardless of party affiliation.  New York’s anti-fraud statute in question, Executive Law 63(12), will be front and center in Judge Engoron’s decision this week.  The statute is one of the most severe anti-fraud statutes in the country because it notably does not require a showing of intent to deceive to prove fraud.  That said, however, the few instances of case law on the books since the late 1950s, when the statute was first adopted, show how courts have interpreted the statute. In every single case save one, courts have only ever found fraud where actual victims suffered from provable harms as a result of the fraud.  (The lone exception was a business that wrote college admissions essays for students, in which the victim was “the integrity of the educational process.”)

In the Trump case, by sharp contrast, not only were there no victims – there was no fraud.  This is most blatantly seen by the fact that Trump’s lender, Deutsch Bank, never so much as complained – let alone, even noticed – that it had been defrauded of the asserted $168 million that Letitia James absolutely insists it had lost in an otherwise very profitable business relationship with the Trump organization.  No matter how rich and powerful the lending organization, any bank that was supposedly defrauded nearly two hundred million dollars would notice and would have brought a lawsuit years before Letitia James developed a savior complex for big banks.

That New York State would pursue multiple investigations at the same time against the same man who also happens to be the presidential frontrunner reeks of banana republicanism.  It is not like Donald Trump is some private businessman, and this case transpired in the normal course of business.  He is the current frontrunner to be the next President of the United States.  This is all part of a multipronged hatchet job against a man considered to be a threat to the ruling elites, many of whom – like Reid Hoffman and Norm Eisen – are some of the biggest financial backers of these lawsuits.

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For Judge Engoron to pretend like he is administering the rule of law fairly and faithfully is an affront to everything our justice system once stood for.  This is not due process; what is unfolding in his courtroom is nothing short of a vindictive power grab by a despotic judge, so clearly envious of Trump’s success in politics and business.  If Engoron orders for President Trump’s business empire to be dissolved, a step notably beyond what even Letitia James advised, then he will destroy the prospect of doing business in New York State for good, and likely throughout the country — a devastating outcome, that nobody should desire, given that it would surely bring the American Dream to an end.

Do New Yorkers understand what is at stake?  Have they totally abandoned belief in capitalism, free enterprise, the American Dream?  Do they realize their city will fail without visionary men doing business like Donald Trump?

There is no chance, after this chilling precedent, that any business would ever want to step foot in New York State again, a state that is already being bled dry by Albany of what little enterprising talent it has left between draconian taxes, regulations, DEI-requirements, and incubating a climate of rampant lawlessness.  Trump did not harm anyone, nor did he deceive anyone in his business dealings – the only crime he ever committed was running for President and speaking the truth. Full disclosure: both those things happen to be rights protected under the Constitution.

But Judges Engoron and Kaplan, and Attorney General James — aided by her lapdog D.A. Alvin Bragg — are letting their all-consuming hate for a single man literally destroy the country.  No sane society would let any one of them occupy their positions of authority – they have completely abandoned the Constitution and rule of law and must pay the price for the irreversible havoc they have wrought.  A sane court system would never in a million years lodge an $83 million damages award upon a washed-up, octogenarian sex columnist for defamation arising from an alleged rape in which the claimant could not even recall the most basic details, such as the year it took place, and waited nearly thirty years before filing a lawsuit once it became politically expedient to do so.

It is interesting that the recent change in New York State law that allowed E. Jean Carroll to bring her lawsuit beyond the normal statute of limitations was done by a rabid anti-Trump state legislator.  It is also interesting that the same financial backer of the Carroll lawsuit, Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn, is a major Democratic donor, who also happens to be bankrolling Nikki Haley’s sorry excuse for a campaign at the same time.  These are not coincidences: this is clearcut election interference, brought to you by the same forces that orchestrated the covid lockdowns, the George Floyd-riots, and the myriad attendant rule changes to election law in the lead-up to the 2020 election that made Biden’s heist, somehow both the most unpopular president in American history despite being the “president” to receive the most number of votes ever, inevitable.

A system of “justice” that values E. Jean Carroll’s reputation at $83 million, would, under normal circumstances, trigger immediate calls for tort reform.  In what universe is E. Jean Carroll’s life and work, who is now in her eighties — and thus has little of both remaining — even close to being valued at $83 million?  Her allegations are completely without merit, which is the reason why she delayed filing a lawsuit for thirty years until she found the political and financial support she needed from the Left. But such an egregious figure is typical for a system that would also value Mar-a-Lago at $18 million.  The rot in the New York judicial system is deep, emblematic of the rot afflicting our society’s justice system writ large, but there the rule of law is being flouted in a particularly flagrant manner.  These judges, district attorneys, and special prosecutors run roughshod over every last judicial norm because they think they can get away with it. They sneer at the rest of us with scornful derision because they think we will not stand up for our rights. Let the clown show that Leftists have made of the New York justice system be an omen for what can and will happen to the rest of the nation without a powerful response by those on the Right who wish to preserve our Constitution and the rule of law in their true, original meanings.

Government of the people, by the people, for the people has become government of the lawyer, by the lawyer, for the lawyer – and in New York, that recipe now threatens to destroy what remnants of a once free and just country remain.

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A slightly modified version of this piece was originally published in The Gateway Pundit, and can be found here.

Paul Ingrassia is a Constitutional Scholar; a two-time Claremont Fellow, and is on the Board of Advisors of the New York Young Republican Club and the Italian American Civil Rights League. He writes a widely read Substack that is regularly posted on Truth Social by President Trump. Follow him on X @PaulIngrassia, Substack, Truth Social, Instagram, and Rumble.