The Wall Street Journal editorial board weighed in Thursday night on the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
A Manhattan grand jury voted Thursday to indict Trump following a years-long investigation into an alleged hush money payment to former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen allegedly paid Daniels $130,000 to keep silent about an alleged affair with Trump, a payment for which Cohen claims Trump reimbursed him.
The investigation by the district attorney’s office focused on whether Trump forged business records to hide the alleged payout.
The Journal’s editorial board weighed in, arguing that the indictment marked a “sad day for the country, with political ramifications that are unpredictable and probably destructive.”
“If there was ever a case that opens Pandora’s box, the first indictment of a former President in U.S. history is it,” the board wrote.
“We believe any prosecution of a former President should involve a serious offense,” they wrote. “The evidence should also be solid enough that a reasonable voter would find it persuasive…This is doubly so when the case involves a former President who is also running again for the same office, as Mr. Trump now is.”
WACO, TEXAS – MARCH 25: Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Waco Regional Airport on March 25, 2023 in Waco, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“Add that the prosecutor belongs to the same Democratic Party as the current President whom Mr. Trump is running against, and the suspicion of a political persecution will be rampant,” the Journal’s board continued. “This is why we urged Mr. Bragg not to revive a seven-year-old case that federal prosecutors declined to act on.”
Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opted in 2019 not to charge Trump for the alleged hush money payments, and the Federal Election Commission dropped its investigation into the case in 2021. (RELATED: Dem Rep Warns Trump Indictment Is ‘No Cause For Celebration’)
“The danger for America is the precedent this prosecution sets,” the board wrote. “Mr. Bragg is busting a political norm that has stood for 230 years. Once a former President and current candidate is indicted, some local Republican prosecutor will look to make a name for himself by doing the same thing to a Democrat. U.S. Democracy will be further abused and battered.”
“Mr. Bragg, the provincial progressive, is unleashing forces that all of us may come to regret,” the editorial concluded.