Judge Juan Merchan’s statement fails to explain when it is a crime to “unlawfully influence” an election? Politicians regularly misstate information and fail to disclose facts during their marketing campaign. The law has by no means allowed members of the public or the government to bring claims for fraud in opposition to politicians who make deceptive and even downright false statements; indeed our legal guidelines broadly defend marketing campaign speech underneath the First Amendment. Even if the government wished to charge Trump now for violating the election law in 2016, these expenses would likely be barred by the applicable statute …