Prosecutor catches Trump MID-CRIME: “Two years in prison. Period”

So, Donald Trump made a big splashy. announcement at his midterm convention. night one in Dallas that he was granting. $5,000 checks to every American adult. We're going to talk about the legality. of this move with Glenn. But before we. do, anybody who actually believes Donald. Trump, regardless of the legality of. this move, when he says he's going to. give Americans thousands of dollars, Glenn and I are going to host a little. symposium at the end of this call on how. to tie your shoes and uh breathe air. every morning. Glenn, let's talk about. how legal this move is. Brian, every. headline ought to scream, "Donald Trump.

violates federal law by promising voters. $5,000. each if the Republicans win the House. and the Senate in the upcoming. midterms." End of story. So, for anybody. who doesn't believe that this violates. federal law, let me very briefly spell. it out for you. For anybody scoring at. home, it is 18 United States Code. section 597.

and it is a very short federal law which. reads as follows. Whoever makes or. offers to make any expenditure to any. person either to vote or withhold his. vote or to vote for or against any. candidate. And whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such. expenditure in consideration of his vote. or withholding his vote shall be fined.

under this title and imprisoned for not. more than 2 years if it's a willful. violation of the statute, which this. inarguably is. So, there are a couple of. really important takeaways from the. federal law I just read. We're going to. translate it now from legal ease into. English. First of all, and most. importantly, this crime has been. consummated. It's done. The law is. violated. Donald Trump should be. subjected to up to two years in prison.

Period. Full stop. Why? Because it. doesn't have to actually proceed to the. point of him making payments. Whoever. makes or offers to make any expenditure. to buy a vote or to sway somebody's vote. one way or another commits this federal. crime, the crime is committed. Interestingly, Brian, anybody who. accepts any money in exchange for his or.

her vote or refusal to vote also commits. this crime. So literally, he would be. subjecting all American voters who. accepted his $5,000 check, which we all. know will never come, also commit this. federal felony, two years for a willful. violation. Brian, this is just insanity. on the rule of law front. And it gets.

worse because not only did Donald Trump. stand up at his pretend midterm. Republican convention, which looks like. it was attended by dozens of people, at. least gauging from the video footage. that I saw of, you know, a less than. half full auditorium. >> Yeah. Well, let's also not forget the. tens of people watching at home. >> Tens of people watching at home. That's. right. So on top of that, who should be.

enforcing this federal law? That would. be Attorney General Todd Blanch. Where. was Todd Blanch when Donald Trump was. violating federal law by making this. announcement? Waiting in the wings to go. on stage to stump for Republican. politicians himself. in violation of federal law, the Hatch. Act, which prohibits it prohibited me. for 30 years from engaging in political. activity while a federal government.

employee. So, you have the president of. the United States violating this law. You have the attorney general who should. be enforcing the law out there violating. yet another federal law. And you know, I. don't know where we go from here except. Brian, we all go to the polls. and vote our asses off. >> Yeah, that's the that's the the the. perfect topline message coming out of. this. A quick note to those who are.

watching, if you enjoy our legal. analysis, appreciate this kind of news, the best way to support our work is to. subscribe to both of our channels. I'm. going to put those links in the post. description of this video. If you're not. yet subscribed, totally free to do so. Please make sure to hit the subscribe. button. Glenn, it's worth asking as the. obvious follow-up here. Can somebody. bring suit against Donald Trump or has. the Supreme Court effectively shielded. him from any criminal liability because. they've decided to hand down a ruling. that says that Donald Trump can. basically commit crimes with impunity? out of this doctrine they made out of.

whole cloth. >> Yeah, there's a little something here. for everyone in the answers plural to. that question. So, first of all, let's. start with the bad news. The Supreme. Court has given him absolute. presidential immunity, at least for what. they call core constitutional functions. They gave him presumptive immunity, which means you probably have immunity, but evidence could be introduced to take. that immunity away. That is for a second. category of crimes. Um, for official.

governmental acts of a president and. then for the acts of a private citizen, even if he is president, no immunity. whatsoever. I would argue this is not an. official act of a president of the. United States, violating federal law to. try to buy votes. Um, it's certainly not. a core constitutional function like. directing military operations. So, I. would put it in the private citizen. category where he's trying to unlawfully. sway an upcoming election. So, he should. have no um immunity from the Supreme.

Court ruling that was handed down about. a year year and a half ago now. Trump. versus United States, the presidential. immunity ruling. Um, however, a little. bit of uh additional bad However, Brian, a little bit of additional bad news. because DOJ has a policy that says we. don't think it's a good idea to. prosecute our boss while he is actually. our boss. The DOJ has offered a legal. opinion which is not precedent and it's.

not law, but their their legal opinion. is, you know, we don't think it's a good. idea to prosecute a sitting criminal. president. Now, let's go to the good. news. Little bit of a of a silver lining. behind the big orange dark cloud. This. almost certainly also violates state. voting laws because just as the federal. government prohibits buying votes, so do. the states. So the and there is no. prohibition against a state prosecuting.

a sitting president. So, you know, if a. state chooses to bring any kind of. criminal charges, and Brian, I hope. dozens and dozens of states do because. even, you know, state attorneys general, state governor, state prosecutors have. to get up off their duffs. And I'm not. trying to insult them, but you know, right now, saving the Republic and. protecting the upcoming midterm. elections is on you governors, state.

attorneys general, state prosecutors. bring those damn charges and then fight. it out in court. The obvious defense. that will be launched is what's called. the supremacy clause defense. And. they'll say, you know what, federal law. trumps, pun intended, I guess, state. prosecutions and state law. Therefore, because the feds can't do it, the states. can't do it. You know what, Brian? That. argument may win in some state courts.

It may lose in some state courts. But. guess what? You you never decide whether. to bring righteous charges because a win. is uncertain. You bring righteous. charges based on the principle if the. facts and the laws support those. righteous charges. This is, you know, not a time for the faint of heart in the. state governments. This is a time to go. hard after the obvious overt in.

yourrface lawlessness of Donald Trump. saying five grand for anybody who votes. for a Republican in the midterms. >> What about the defense that he would. likely bring up or somebody would bring. up on behalf of him, which is that he. would be doing this in deference to. policy, not per se straight up as a. bribe. like this is just he wants to. just give people $5,000. in very much the same way that he has. said and lied that he wants to give Doge.

dividend checks that he wants to give. ACA rebate rebate checks and and the the. fine print on this for anybody who's. watching is he makes these promises all. the time. He never follows. through on them. This is just a thing he. says to get people to vote for him to. give him power and at the end of the day. you will end up with absolutely nothing. So again, just something to have in your. back pocket. But what about this idea. that he's just advocating for policy and. so it's protected because he's allowed. to advocate for any legislation or.

policy he wants? You know, it's a fair. question. So what I'm doing is I'm. double-checking the law. I'm kind of I'm. multitasking here because I'm looking at. the law, which I hold in my hand just. off camera, and I'm looking for the. let's see the policy exception. This is. No, you know what? Not in the federal. law. Whoever makes or offers uh an. expenditure to get somebody to vote or. withhold their vote, whether for policy. reasons or otherwise, yeah, violates. this federal law. That legal dog will.

not hunt as a defense. It's also worth. noting again, and there are so many. reasons, illegality notwithstanding, that this is just absolute Um. there there is also the fact of what it. would do to the deficit and what it. would do to inflation. I think our. discretionary budget in the United. States is somewhere in the ballpark of. $1.6 trillion. This would cost $1.3. trillion. So, we would effectively. double our our uh our budget, explode. the deficit, explode the debt. Do you do.

you know what would happen to inflation? The issue that sank Joe Biden's. presidency because everybody was paying. more if all of a sudden everybody got. handed $5,000. Everything would surge. You would be lining your coats in the. winter with dollar bills. And so, you. know, it's just it's just so ironic that. the the basis for all of these. Republican attacks on the midterms is. that the Democrats are trying to usher. in socialism when this is very much. along the lines of what happened in. other socialist countries that these.

very Republicans point to as a. cautionary tale against electing. Democrats. Yeah. And Brian, even though I'm on. vacation presently, full disclosure. here, um I was watching some of the. reporting both national and. international and if I see one more. expert or one more panel, particularly. on a cable news program, start to. discuss, well, where is Donald Trump. going to get the money to give every. voting adult 5,000? Shut up, please.

>> Yeah, >> that shouldn't be the topic of. discussion. It should be all day, every. day, blasted from on high. This violates. federal law. Violates federal law. Violates federal law. And you know what? If Todd Blanch doesn't at least pursue. an investigation, his ass should be out. He should resign in shame. Listen, at. this point, he is Todd John Mitchell. Blanch. Period. Right. John Mitchell was. obviously Richard Nixon's attorney. general who went to prison for.

committing crimes together with and for. the benefit of Richard Nixon. Todd. Blanch is committing crimes together. with and for the benefit of Donald. Trump. Let's learn a little something. from history. And that's why do I have. any hope Todd Blanch will, you know, will somehow sprout some ethics? Of. course not. That's why the states need. to step up and fill the law enforcement. void by going hard after this obviously.

criminal act. Glenn, is this something. for which Todd Blanch could be referred. to bar counsel wherever he's barred? >> Oh, he wait. Listen, he inarguably just. violated the Hatch Act by engaging in. political activity. for God's sakes, he. was stumping for Republicans de facto by. appearing at this pretend um you know. poorly attended midterm convention, whatever the hell that is. Um yeah, he. and the good news is he's already been. referred to bar counsel for other. ethical transgressions and you know it.

won't be long in my opinion. Brian, I'm. putting my full max $1 bet on it not. being long before Todd Blanch joins the. ignoble Donald Trump disbared lawyers. club with all of the other disbarred. Trump lawyers that have gone before him. >> All right. Well, we will leave it there. and I will let you get back to vacation. For those who are watching right now, to. show some support for the work we do, including the fact that Glenn will take. time off of his vacation to explain the.

legal intricacies of what's going on, the best way to support our work, which. is also 100% free, is to subscribe to. both of our channels. I'm going to put. those links right here on the screen and. also in the post description. So, if. you're not yet subscribed, go ahead and. hit the subscribe button. I'm Brian. Teller Cohen. >> and I'm Glenn Kersner. >> You're watching the Legal Breakdown.