Wry Catcher
Diamond Member
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- Banned
- #41
Hillary lied to the FBI and Congress and destroyed public property.
Next
She was not indicted, not convicted and thus is not a crook. Trump is not prosecutor, nor judge nor jury. Trump fooled the fools and it appears he fooled you too.
The law you quoted deals with extortion, not libel or slander. You highlighted a portion of the law, but you failed to highlight the part that defines intent. Had you done so you would have known that Trump did not commit a felony under the quoted statute when he accused Clinton of being dishonest. I will restate the law you cited (which is a Florida Statute) and will highlight the part you ignored:
"836.05 Threats; extortion.—Whoever, either verbally or by a written or printed communication, maliciously threatens to accuse another of any crime or offense, or by such communication maliciously threatens an injury to the person, property or reputation of another, or maliciously threatens to expose another to disgrace, or to expose any secret affecting another, or to impute any deformity or lack of chastity to another, with intent thereby to extort money or any pecuniary advantage whatsoever, or with intent to compel the person so threatened, or any other person, to do any act or refrain from doing any act against his or her will, shall be guilty of a felony of the second degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.
This law makes it illegal to accuse someone of a crime or offense with the intent to extort money or get the person to act in a certain way. Intent is an essential element of the crime. All Trump did was publicly accuse Hillary of dishonesty. He did not threaten to expose her if she didn't give him money or special favors. Falsely accusing someone of dishonesty would be classified is either libel or slander depending on whether the accusations were written or spoken; however, truth is an absolute defense to these charges and the evidence that Hillary repeatedly lied is overwhelming. The fact she was not convicted is irrelevant.
Conclusion: trump did not violate the Florida Statue which prohibits what is commonly referred to as blackmail.
Note: When it comes to libel or slander, truth is an absolute defense. But when it comes to blackmail, truth is not necessarily a defense. It is a crime to threaten to expose a persons secrets for the purpose of extortion. My advice: (1) always tell the truth and you will never have to worry about being charged with libel or slander; and (2) never threaten to defame someone unless they pay you off.
I could make an argument that Trump's action were culpable if I put in the time to research the law in other states, or in the common law***; however, your point is valid and I agree with your conclusion.
That said, Trump who repeated this accusation lacking evidence is morally culpable, as there is no probative evidence attached to his accusations; it is in fact nothing more than a Big Lie, without substantive proof (i.e. an indictment with a conviction after trial) it is defamation and a civil tort.
***See for example,
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1983/2/pdfs/ukpga_19830002_en.pdf
with attention to 106, to wit: "False statements as to candidates".
Such a law would seems to be necessary given the current state of affairs in our country.
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