Please make a summary of the following text.
Criminal defense lawyers like to make fun of the grand jury system. They joke that any prosecutor worth his or her salt can convince a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich. In the case of NAME_1, that joke has come home to roost.
Let’s look at the indictment. The thrust of the case is that NAME_2 mislabeled an alleged hush-money payment to NAME_3, a porn star who no one had ever heard of until she claimed she had a liaison with The NAME_4 a decade before he ran for president. The payment is said to have been made by NAME_2 lawyer NAME_5.
According to the indictment, NAME_2 then sent NAME_6 a check and marked it as payment for “legal expenses.” Apparently, NAME_2 should have recorded the payment as “secret hush money for a porn star who is trying to shake me down and derail my run for president.”
NAME_2 has consistently denied he had any affair with this person. Moreover, the payment of the alleged “hush money” is not a crime. The alleged crime is the way NAME_2, or more likely one of his employees, characterized the payment.
I can only imagine the millions of book entries in businesses around the country that are similarly given a nebulous title. Exactly what constitutes “legal expense”? Aren’t payments to a lawyer for expenses to prevent possible litigation or the publication of embarrassing claims the performance of legal services, especially for such a public persona? More importantly, is such characterization of this expense a crime?
I won’t even mention the fact that this indictment of a former president is the first in our 247-year history, nor the fact that this former president is now running for election to a second term. He may very well be the Republican nominee for president in 2024. If elected president, will he have to serve his term behind bars? You should write your response with 350 or more words.
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