ATL Redline, Justice, Politics

Eric Schneiderman, You're Not Helping, Bruh

The investigation, or the leak of the investigation, is the worst kind of partisan hackery because it's not even designed to actually help the party.

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(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

I also think that the media has unfairly focused on the Clinton Foundation, while giving the Trump Foundation a largely free pass. I too think that the media acts like every email Hillary Clinton ever sent is a threat to the national interests, while it has failed to hold Trump’s feet to the fire for: Trump University, Trump’s tax returns, Trump’s medical records, or Trump’s pathological inability to make his next sentence consistent with his previous utterance.

But being salty over the media coverage of your candidate is not a reason to start a lawsuit. Or an “inquiry.” Or a whatever the hell New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is doing.

On Tuesday, word leaked that Schneiderman’s office was investigating the Trump Foundation. Schneiderman, a Democrat, insists that the investigation isn’t politically motivated. From Politico:

“This goes back quite a few months. We didn’t make a big deal about it. We didn’t hold [a] press conference,” Schneiderman said Tuesday night at a campaign event for his former chief of staff in Washington Heights. “But in June we communicated with the lawyers for the Trump Foundation about what appeared to be an unlawful campaign contribution.”…

“If I’m a traffic cop, but I’m a Democrat, and [Trump] speeds by me, I have to give him a ticket. It’s that simple. Charities have to follow the rules,” Schneiderman said on “CBS This Morning.”

Yeah but… you’re not a traffic cop. I’m pretty sure you know that. Instead, you are the top lawyer in a blue state, and your office is leaking an investigation into the dealings of the opposition candidate, less than 60 days before a presidential election. If you were a traffic cop, you’d be the one who is handing out tickets for jaywalking to people running in the New York Marathon.

The investigation, or the leak of the investigation, is the worst kind of partisan hackery because it’s not even designed to actually help the party. There is zero chance that the A.G.’s investigation will change the mind of even one voter. But it might make Schneiderman look cool, tough, and willing to stand up to Donald Trump while the New York Times public editor carries his water.

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The New York Attorney General’s office has become a staging ground for political conquest. Eliot Spitzer, you might remember, appointed himself the “sheriff of Wall Street” and steamrolled his way right into Albany, without ever having to take off his socks. The current New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, also used the A.G’s office to propel him to his current position as Bill de Blasio’s daddy. Schneiderman will most likely make this run too, somebody. Screwing with Trump is a good way to accrue so primary bona fides.

Which isn’t to say the Trump Foundation shouldn’t be investigated. Of course it should. But right now, less than two months out from the election, the probing should be done by the media and good government groups. The law should not be weaponized in this way to score points.

When the A.G. puts the law behind this, he thinks he’s legitimizing the questions into Trump’s dealings, but he’s actually de-legitimizing it. He’s making it easier for the Trump people to brush this all off as a political attack, instead of entirely legitimate questions about the finances of his organization.

We have literally been here before with Schneiderman and Trump. Remember his toothless investigation into Trump University? He’s politicizing things that are stupid enough to stand on their own.

Let me put it like this: Nobody thinks Eric Schneiderman sat in his office in June and thought “I wonder if I should investigate the Trump Foundation” WITHOUT also thinking about the political ramifications of such an inquiry. Whether or not Schneiderman was motivated by these thoughts becomes almost beside the point. It’s like touching Mia Wallace’s feet: you gotta expect a reaction.

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And Schneiderman should’ve f**king better known better.

Schneiderman insists probe into Trump Foundation isn’t politically motivated [Politico]

Earlier: Let The Donald Trump Political Show Trial Begin!

Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He shares Schneiderman’s instinct to insert the law where it doesn’t belong to help his career.

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