Moderate Dems don't want to set the precedent of holding powerful politicians accountable, because moderate Dems are terrified if progressives gain power, they'll hold people accountable regardless of the letter by their name.
That's the whole point of being "moderate" occupying the gray area in-between republicans and progressives. And when Republicans are bat shit insane grifters and progressives honestly aren't asking for anything radical...
Well, moderates aren't exactly going to be great people, at least they don't have to be. I'm sure some are just misguided and genuinely think they're helping.
Your comment proves you don't understand what's happening. At all.
Trump defamed someone. That's a civil issue. He was put on trial. On a civil trial. Because it's a civil issue. He lost. He got fined. Not sent to jail. Because it's a civil trial.
This isn't about the trial he lost from raping Jean Carroll. This is about Trump lost a trial about defrauding banks and insurance companies.
Bankman Fried defrauded banks, was put on criminal trial and was sent to jail Trump defrauded banks but was only put on civil trial resulting in a fine.
My bad, of course, not sure why the defamation trial was still in my head.
SBF engaged in things like securities fraud as well, which is harder to spin into a civil thing I guess.
My bet on why they decided to go the civil route is that Trump has the money to make things right (if he will that's another thing), and SBF has nothing.
So they've just decided to go the "better for everybody" route, since, well, it's better for everybody.
James seems to be taking this approach, as opposed to a criminal indictment, because New York law empowers the AG to seek damages caused by fraudulent business behavior as a form of consumer protection. The law doesn’t require the AG to identify a victim or even demonstrate anybody suffered harm. Plus, the burden of proof is lower in civil cases than in criminal ones.
“What makes this statute particularly powerful is that there doesn’t have to be a loss,” Will Thomas, a law professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, told Yahoo Finance. “This statute has been used to disgorge profits illegally gained. The government can be allowed to claw back all of those profits. Provable nature is lower, and you don’t have to prove intent or willfulness.”
A civil suit also prevents James from bumping into the criminal case against Trump’s company that the Manhattan district attorney is prosecuting. Those two offices sometimes work together on criminal cases, as they’re doing on the recent indictment of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon. With regard to Trump, however, they seem to be pursuing complementary approaches instead of overlapping ones.
So the answer is: it's easier to win, it's easier to punish Trump & they can still file criminal charges after a successful civil case if more crimes are uncovered.
Engoron ruled that Trump engaged in a yearslong conspiracy with top executives at his company, the Trump Organization, to deceive banks and insurers about the size of his wealth and the true value of such properties as Trump Tower in Manhattan and his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.