Trump went on to criticize other payments from the Harris campaign to organizations connected to prominent endorsers. He asserted without evidence that these payments were inaccurately described in spending records. And he wrongly asserted that it is “TOTALLY ILLEGAL” to pay for political endorsements, though no federal law forbids endorsement payments.Trump is claiming the Kamala Harris campaign paid Beyoncé $11 million (up from the original, anonymously sourced lie of $10 million, because that’s what Trump does). It’s a lie. But Trump tries, then, to ground it in fact by adding something he’s familiar with: his criminal conviction in New York. The sentence I highlighted is the tell. That’s what happened to Trump. He was prosecuted, under state law, for falsifying records. So, like a small child, he adds that lie to the other lies, to make his lie stronger, to give it some measure of verisimilitude. As Hemingway reportedly said: “Write what you know.”
So Trump did. But he got everything wrong.
The claim Beyoncé was paid anything, much less $10 million, is wrong. The claim there is evidence for this is wrong. The claim paid endorsements are illegal is wrong. The claim spending records were falsified is wrong.
Trump wasn’t prosecuted for paying Stormy Daniels to keep quiet. He was prosecuted for business fraud under New York State law. He was prosecuted for falsifying business records. Now he’s trying to change the facts in order to change the outcome for Kamala Harris, but he has no facts and the law he’s thinking about doesn’t apply.
Don’t try to be a criminal prosecutor at home, kids. This is why lawyers go to law school. Trying to play “lawyer” without knowledge is not going to work out for you.
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