Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Judge Andrew Napolitano Has Lost It

By Victor Ward

Judge Judy makes a lot of money. Maybe Judge Andrew Napolitano, the once great Judge Andrew Napolitano, should consider doing a show like hers. It could be called: Judge Andy. He would be perfect for the show because his latest statement on Fox News was nothing except a comment to get ratings.

Here is what Judge Andy said:

Judge Andy: "The Trial Judge (Andy is talking about Judge Pauley, the Judge who presided over the Michael Cohen plea hearing) said verbally that the POTUS orchestrated and paid for this crime referring to the crime to which Michael Cohen pled guilty."

Shepard Smith: "And that is, by definition, a Conspiracy?"

Judge Andy: Yes, the Conspiracy would be the three of them in the room.

There are a number of problems with Judge Andy’s statement:

First, three people sitting in a room agreeing to do something illegal is not a Conspiracy. (Judge Andy knows better, but he was playing to the cameras.)

Second, I have not found any media outlet that corroborates what Judge Andy said. I have not found any media outlet that says that Judge Pauley made any statement about the POTUS. If Pauley had made the statement attributed to him by Judge Andy, wouldn’t Pauley's statement have been banner news on every media site?

Why would Judge Pauley say anything about Trump? Trump is not present before Pauley, so there would be no reason for Pauley to address Trump. And, even if he did say something about Trump, no Judge is going to accuse someone of committing a crime when that person has not had his day in court.

If Pauley had made a statement like the one Judge Andy attributed to him, the statement would not rise to the level of Judicial Misconduct, but it would rise to the level of Judicial Stupidity.

If Judge Pauley did not make this statement, that makes Judge Andy sound like a fool.

Third, if Trump is an un-indicted co-conspirator, then what is Michael Cohen? Had Cohen pled guilty to the crime of Conspiracy?

Nope.

In his first plea deal, Cohen pled guilty to 8 charges. None of those charges were for the crime of Conspiracy.

In his second plea deal, Cohen pled guilty to 1 charge: Making False Statements.

Every plea deal has a statement of facts. Cohen’s plea deal is no different. In Cohen's statement of facts, there is never any statement that Trump told Cohen to pay anybody or to have any conversation with the Russian government or to pay off any Attorney or to sleep with Stormy Daniels or to watch the show "The Americans" or anything else.

Trump is listed as “Individual-1,” but none of the documents that I have read even hint that “Individual-1” did anything criminal. There are other people mentioned in the plea document, and some of these other people are at least borderline criminals, but nothing about the sitting President.

In fact, Trump comes off looking pretty clean.

Sidebar: Do you know what’s strange? According to the government’s own statement, Cohen paid off Attorney 1 and Woman 1 so that they (Attorney 1 and Woman 1) would not go to the Editor of a newspaper (Editor 1).

In most situations, the person guilty of the crime would be Attorney 1 and Woman 1, not Cohen. Cohen and his client (Individual 1/Trump) would have been the victims of extortion or blackmail. We are living in bizarro world: The traditional criminal is the helpless victim, and the helpless victim is now criminal perpetrator.

After reading all of Cohen’s plea deals, I am left believing that much of this Conspiracy/Collusion hype is just that: Hype — all driven by the rabid media.

It looks like Judge Andy, instead of reading something for himself, just bought the New York Times/CNN/MSNBC Progressive lie — hook, line, and sinker. (Trump, too, along with Judge Andy, got catfished. If Trump had simply read what Cohen said that he (Cohen) did, Trump would not have been so belligerent with his tweets about Cohen. (Well, on second thought, this is Trump that I am talking about. So strike that last thought.)

Back to the crime of Conspiracy: If Mueller really thought that Trump was guilty of the crime of Conspiracy, then he would have charged Cohen with that crime.

A good Prosecutor will throw everything at the Defendant, and the Prosecutor does this for three reasons: First, the Prosecutor does not know what is going to stick. Second, extra charges help to strengthen the Prosecutor’s negotiating position. And, third, if the Prosecutor feels as if the Defendant is guilty of several crimes, the Prosecutor is under a professional obligation to charge the Defendant with all of those crimes.

So, why didn’t Mueller charge Cohen with the crime of Conspiracy? Either Mueller is not a good Prosecutor or Cohen is not guilty of Conspiracy — or both.

Mueller did not charge Cohen with Conspiracy, and there is nothing that I have read that gives the slightest indication that he will charge Trump with Conspiracy.

Of course, Trump answered Mueller’s written Interrogatories. Maybe there is something in Trump’s answers that could pose a problem for Trump.

But, if Trump’s guilt or innocence is based on the Michael Cohen plea documents, then Trump has absolutely nothing to worry about.

Victor J. Ward  first came across libertarianism by reading Murray Rothbard's Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy and Walter Block's Defending the Undefendable. He holds a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and an MBA from Santa Clara University. He can be reached at victorjward@gmail.com

3 comments:

  1. Glad you are seeing it too. Remember when Trump was re-tweeting him when Judge was exposing the NSA and deep state last year? Then he got suspended by Fox News and changed drastically.

    I really hope he is safe, and the old Judge comes back soon. I am praying for the man.

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  2. ── "We are living in bizarro world: The traditional criminal is the helpless victim, and the helpless victim is now criminal perpetrator." ──

    The bizarro-world situation is one where you have a serial philanderer who is getting his just comeuppance, being called a "helpless victim".

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    1. I agree. Bill Clinton was not and is not an innocent victim. John Kennedy was not an innocent victim. Well said.

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