Checks and Balance: Trump turns up
Checks and Balance from The Economist
The Economist
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 7 April 2023
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Donald Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. He denies all the charges, and in a New York courtroom earlier this week pleaded not guilty. For most American politicians this would be the end of their presidential ambitions—why not for Mr Trump?
Former prosecutor Matthew Galluzzo assesses the case. We hear about a world leader who had several brushes with the law. And The Economist’s James Bennet considers whether it’s a mistake to prosecute Donald Trump.
John Prideaux hosts with Charlotte Howard and Idrees Kahloon.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The gentleman of 1870's Washington, DC, had a need for speed. A favorite pastime among |
| 0:08.4 | society men was to race their horse-drawn carriages at Brinkneck Pace along 13th Street. |
| 0:15.0 | It wasn't much fun for local residents, and after a lady was knocked down by an out-of-control |
| 0:19.5 | roadhog, the police took action. William West was one of the cops tasked with cracking |
| 0:25.3 | down on the speed fiends. One evening, from his perch on the corner of 13th and M Streets, |
| 0:31.7 | West spotted some carriages corigning towards him. He stopped them and arrested the drivers |
| 0:36.9 | on the spot. This was the moment that West became the first and hitherto only person to have |
| 0:42.7 | arrested a US president. Often seen recklessly driving his horse and buggy, the 18th president |
| 0:49.1 | of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant was one of the speeding drivers. 150 years later, |
| 0:56.1 | Grant has company. But while Grant was arrested for a misdemeanor, Donald Trump is the first |
| 1:01.4 | president, setting all former ever to be arrested on criminal charges. |
| 1:07.4 | I'm John Prado and this is Chex and Balance from the Economist. |
| 1:13.7 | Each week we take one big theme, shaping American politics and explore it in depth. |
| 1:19.2 | Today is prosecuting Donald Trump a mistake. |
| 1:40.1 | Donald Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records. |
| 1:44.6 | The Manhattan District Attorney's Office alleges that payments were made to suppress stories |
| 1:49.0 | about Mr. Trump's alleged sexual infidelities before the 2016 presidential election. |
| 1:54.7 | He denies all the charges and in a New York courtroom earlier this week, Mr. Trump |
| 1:59.0 | pleaded not guilty. Republicans have rallied around the former president since news of the |
| 2:04.4 | indictment broke, his poll numbers are up, he's raising millions of dollars, |
| 2:08.6 | and even anti-Trump Republicans have expressed some skepticism about the case. |
| 2:13.6 | For most American politicians, being charged with a crime would be the end of their |
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