Extensive investigation constitutes a stunning defeat for Democrats who had hoped to bring criminal charges against Trump during an election year.
The mainstream media has been breathlessly running headlines like this one from The Chicago Times Trump signed improper charity check supporting Florida attorney general" alleging that Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump bribed Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi (another Republican) in order to avoid prosecution. For three years now zealous reporters have tried to find a smoking gun revealing impropriety in Trumps campaign donation.
Now The New York Times says theres almost certainly no smoking gun to find.
The US Supreme Court recently held in the landmark public corruption case McDonnell v. U.S. that bribery requires that the person giving the donation get something for it. According to the Federal Code (18 U.S. Code § 201) not only must something of value have been offered to a public official but it must be shown to have influenced that public officials behavior for the contributors benefit.
Read the rest of the article at The Stream
