According to an AP/NORC poll issued on Tuesday, little over one-third, or 35 percent, of people think that former President Donald Trump committed a blatantly “illegal” act in connection with his ongoing criminal prosecution in New York.
In response to claims that Trump “paid hush money to a woman who said he had an affair with her,” 35% of respondents indicated they thought Trump had broken the law. A further 31% of respondents believe he did something “unethical but is not illegal,” while 14% claim he did “nothing wrong.” 19% more people stated they “do not know enough to say.”
As expected, the majority of Dems—62 percent—think Trump broke the law in this instance, while only two percent think he did nothing wrong and 27 percent think he acted unethically but not criminally.
Republicans were divided on whether Trump broke the law or not; only 6% thought he had done so, and 40% believed he had acted unethically but not criminally. Another 28% said they thought Trump had done nothing wrong, and another 26% said they did not know enough to make a judgment.
Furthermore, 32% of independents think Trump violated the law in this instance, followed by 25% who think he behaved unethically but not unlawfully, 15% who think he did nothing wrong, and 27% who are unsure enough to make a judgment.
Between April 4 and 8, 2024, 1,204 adults participated in the poll, which has a margin of error of ± 3.9 percent.
It happens at the same time that Democratic Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who has charged Trump with 34 felonies, is accusing the president of fabricating financial records pertaining to a payment of “hush money” to Stormy Daniels. Breitbart News pointed out that the prosecution does not accuse the former president of “covering up a sex scandal.”
The case is not without any controversy, as Trump and his allies have called the most recent legal action against him “political persecution.” Not to mention that Justice Juan Merchan of the New York Supreme Court has a history of donating to Democrats.
Remember Judge Merchan’s donation to Biden? In a recent appearance on Breitbart News Daily, Jesse Binnall, one of Trump’s attorneys in his civil cases on January 6, reminded the audience that the case is based on the “word of Michael Cohen” and that “let us remember that his family has a vested financial interest in this case or… the fact that the case is ongoing.”
“Because these are the admissions of a perjurer, their entire case rests on a false foundation,” he said, adding that “at least decent lawyers are finding it difficult to ascertain the precise nature of the criminal allegations here.”
“The notion is that if you have fake company records, it can be a misdemeanor in New York.” Currently, they are attempting to link it to the campaign funding statute in order to elevate it to a felony. The problem is that campaign financing laws are prosecutable in this country. “Most of the time, it’s not through the criminal judicial system, but rather through a civilian pipe enforcement procedure through the Federal Election Commission,” he clarified.
“If you file a single complaint with the Federal Election Commission, they have the authority to investigate it and appoint six commissioners, with three chosen by Republicans and three appointed by Democrats.
Noting that it is not a criminal procedure, he added that they attempt to “come up with a determination that is not partisan about whether somebody truly did violate campaign funding legislation.”
He remarked, “In this case, the Federal Election Commission has not actually decided that these practices were criminal.”
In fact, several former federal election commissioners have come forward to declare that the accusations made against President Trump are unfounded. These individuals are the real authorities on campaign financing legislation. Similarly, it is occasionally a federal crime to violate the Department of Justice’s campaign funding laws. It is possible for the Department of Justice to pursue legal action over campaign funding laws. He remarked, “They have not done it here either. “Once again, since there was no federal offense.”
He went on, “So instead, you have Alvin Bragg, who obviously ran on a platform of attacking Donald Trump, and he has attempted a lot of legal acrobatics to bring this specific criminal lawsuit based on this very, very strange theory that having a nondisclosure legal agreement is a breaking of campaign finance law, which is just not true.”