Media must not ignore Trump’s other criminal cases

Treat them as election issues despite the defendant’s delay tactics

It seems increasingly likely that the criminal trial going on in Manhattan right now will be the only one against Donald Trump that will occur before the election.

It’s a serious case for sure, alleging falsification of business records to keep the voters from learning that Trump cheated on his wife with a porn star.

Yet it may be the least serious of the four criminal cases against him, and I’m worried that Trump’s successful stalling of the other three cases will cause the news media to sideline coverage of those charges – involving the plot to overturn the 2020 election and the theft of secret documents. If news outlets don’t keep those cases front-and-center in the run-up to the 2024 election, they’ll be playing into the hands of the MAGA Republicans who are desperately delaying justice.

A quick status check:

• The federal case against Trump over his plot to nullify the election of Joe Biden is tied up in the U.S. Supreme Court, which was asked by special counsel Jack Smith to deal with the issue of presidential immunity last December but chose to string it out until the end of its term. The delay smells like an attempt by right-wing justices such as Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to help Trump politically.

• The federal case against Trump over the theft of classified documents and his lies about their whereabouts was given to Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon, who has systematically stalled progress on the case. 

• The Fulton County, Georgia, election fraud case involving Trump’s corrupt efforts to “find” enough votes to win the state has been tied up over ethics issues involving prosecutor Fani Willis. One judge has already ruled she can stay on the case, but Trump and his co-defendants have appealed, so the issue will be taken up in court again. Delay, delay, delay.

In a well-functioning democracy, these cases would have been brought to trial in time to allow the public to know the full truth before voting for or against a criminal suspect who may become president.

There’s a common expression: “Let’s not try this case in the press.” But the press needs to keep discussing and explaining the evidence as a public service to the voters who are being denied verdicts by Election Day.

The right-wing propagandists who say Trump is the victim of “lawfare” and a “witch hunt” won’t stop trying to undermine the credibility of our courts, so honest journalists can’t stop bringing the facts either. If the right has shown us anything in recent decades, it’s that repetition of a message makes people believe it. The news media can’t unilaterally disarm – or go to sleep – on the pending Trump cases.

A poll last year found that 61% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents thought Trump was facing so many criminal charges largely as a result of political abuse of the justice system. Rather than thinking that four criminal cases in four separate jurisdictions are a strong indication of Trump’s corruption, they think the sheer number of charges shows that it’s all made up.

It’s up to the news media to remind the public that the evidence is real, and grand juries are real, and justice can be real if we follow the facts.

Yet journalists can be easily bored. While the three slow-moving criminal cases plod through a swamp of technical issues, the media may be distracted by Trump’s next sale of Bibles, golden sneakers, or whatever else he comes up with.  

Here’s advice for journalists to keep Trump’s criminal jeopardy prominent:

• Break some news on the stolen records. What’s the deal with Bedminster? Are there any records there? Why hasn’t Trump’s New Jersey golf club been searched? 

• The stolen records evidence is overwhelming, but it came out in a somewhat confusing, breaking news manner. Do an explainer on how the whole thing unfolded, and how Trump could have gotten a break for stealing the records if he hadn’t kept trying to cover up what he did.

• Do a recap of Trump’s many clashes with the law, both civil and criminal. Back in 1973, the Justice Department sued Trump and his father, Fred, for racial discrimination in housing. Represented by later-disbarred lawyer Roy Cohn, Trump settled the case by promising reforms, which some say he didn’t make. Then there’s the Trump University scandal, in which Trump paid a $25 million settlement. And a New York business fraud case, in which Trump was recently ordered to pay $454 million. Jury verdicts cost Trump nearly $90 million for his defamatory statements about E. Jean Carroll, who accused him of rape. (A judge said jurors determined that Trump raped Carroll, according to the common definition of the word.) And there’s a tax dodge that is just now coming into clear view, in which Trump double-dipped in claiming tax breaks on Trump Tower Chicago and now may face a $100 million tax bill.

• Track down the people who were scammed by Trump along the way. It won’t be hard to find victims because there have been so many over the years. Ask them whether they think Trump will ever face true accountability.

• Keep the Trump election interference cases top of mind by tracking how the issue comes up in the re-election bids of Trump’s Jan. 6 confederates, such as Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. 

• Keep digging. It took three years for us to learn that a Supreme Court justice’s home displayed a “Stop the Steal” flag in January 2021. There’s more to learn about all three of the slow-moving Trump cases. And there are other suspicious Trump activities to investigate. For example, what did Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner do to get a $2 billion deal with the Saudis, and what did he know about the Saudis’ murder and dismemberment of journalist Jamal Khashoggi? 

• Whatever you do, reporters, don’t save anything for a book coming out in 2025. Be more concerned about democracy’s survival than your book royalties.