The legally and morally dubious charges against Trump, which stem from hush money that he paid porn star Stormy Daniels when he was running for president in 2016 to keep her from talking about her alleged affair with him, reinforce his complaint that Democrats are attempting "election interference" in the guise of seeking justice. And because it looks like this case will be tried before any of the other, more substantial criminal cases against Trump, it is apt to color the public's perception of those cases as well. That likelihood suggests the conspiracy that Trump portrays, which supposedly involves Special Counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis as well as Bragg, is much clumsier than he suggests. ...

There was nothing inherently illegal about paying off Daniels. Although the $130,000 payment could be construed as a violation of federal campaign finance law, that interpretation hinges on viewing the hush money as a campaign expense, aimed at securing Trump's victory, rather than a personal expenditure, aimed at avoiding embarrassment and sparing Melania Trump's feelings.

Federal prosecutors did charge Trump fixer Michael Cohen with making an illegal campaign contribution by fronting the money to pay Daniels, and he pleaded guilty to that charge in 2018. But they never charged Trump with breaking the law by arranging the payment or reimbursing Cohen, and it is not hard to see why. The Justice Department's unsuccessful 2012 prosecution of Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, which was based on similar but seemingly stronger facts, foundered on the difficulty of distinguishing between campaign and personal expenditures.