Justice for all — even Donald Trump | Editorial

This case is not just about a tawdry sex scandal. It’s about holding a corrupt and shameless former president accountable.

by The Editorial Board

Published Apr. 3, 2023, 5:00 a.m. ET

The first-ever criminal indictment of an ex-president of the United States is nothing to celebrate. In fact, it is a sad moment in history and one that will further test two centuries of this nation’s great experiment in democracy.

But the indictment of Donald J. Trump is a testament to the American system of justice, where no one is above the law.

A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump on Thursday for his role in paying off an adult film actress days before the 2016 election. He is expected to surrender to authorities in New York as soon as Tuesday, where he will be fingerprinted, sit for a mug shot, and maybe put in handcuffs — just like any other accused felon would be treated in our legal system.

As with all things Trump, the criminal charges against the 45th president sparked intense division along partisan lines. Republicans and Fox News loyalists rushed to his defense yet again, excusing and downplaying the indictment as another political witch hunt.

Former Rep. Peter Meijer, who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, compared it to “crossing the Rubicon,” a reference to Julius Caesar’s defiance of the Senate, an action that led to brutal civil wars and the end of the Roman republic.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) urged supporters to send Trump money to help with his defense, while supporters lit up social media with calls for violence and racist attacks against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat who is Black.

Meanwhile, some Democrats celebrated. Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.) sent a tweet filled with exclamation points. “So Trump finally got indicted! I predicted he would and I predicted that Stormy Daniels would get him! Sometimes justice works!” Waters wrote.

Others argued Trump should not have been charged because the crimes surrounding the payoff are minor and the case is not a slam dunk. But that is not how the justice system works.

In fact, John Edwards, the former U.S. senator from North Carolina and 2004 Democratic vice-presidential nominee, faced similar charges for using campaign funds to keep an affair quiet. He was acquitted on one charge, and the jury deadlocked on five other counts.

In the scheme of Trump’s long trail of legal disputes stretching back decades, a brief romantic affair may seem trivial. But buying Stormy Daniels’ silence may have changed the course of history. It occurred days after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, where Trump bragged about grabbing women by their genitals.

The recording rocked Trump’s campaign. News of the affair with Daniels could have altered the outcome of the 2016 election. After all, Trump only won Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin by a combined 80,000 votes.

Hillary Clinton could have been the first woman elected president, and the country could have avoided the long national nightmare of his tumultuous four years in office.

Instead, America was saddled with a norm-busting, twice-impeached president who emboldened dictators, upended relations with allies, increased the national debt, mismanaged the pandemic, causing tens of thousands of needless deaths, sparked a deadly insurrection, repeatedly lied, weakened American democracy, and tarnished the presidency.

This case is not just about a tawdry sex scandal. It’s about holding a corrupt and shameless former president accountable. Unfortunately, the rest of the country will get dragged through Trump’s narcissistic mud as the legal process plays out.

Indeed, more indictments may be coming. Trump faces three other criminal investigations. Federal prosecutors are probing his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection and his taking of classified documents, while a grand jury in Georgia is weighing charges for Trump’s part in trying to change the outcome of the 2020 election there.

For now, Trump is presumed innocent. He may be convicted or exonerated. Either outcome would represent the justice system at work. That system should apply to all Americans, even former presidents.