Viewpoints
Opinion

President Trump’s Best Defense

The best defense should be that any citizen, President Trump included, is entitled to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.
President Trump’s Best Defense
Former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump looks on at Manhattan Criminal Court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs, in New York on April 22, 2024. Angela Weiss/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
John M. Ellis
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Commentary

Manhatten District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump relies heavily on the existence of a federal crime that Mr. Bragg neither charges nor fully specifies, because without that crime as the rationale and motive for President Trump’s allegedly falsified book-keeping entries, those entries would only be at best misdemeanors on which the statute of limitations has expired.

John M. Ellis
John M. Ellis
Author
John M. Ellis is a distinguished professor emeritus at University of California–Santa Cruz, chair of the California Association of Scholars, and the author of several books, the most recent of which is “The Breakdown of Higher Education: How It Happened, the Damage It Does, and What Can Be Done.”