General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUnlawful, illegal, illicit, criminal.
These appear in order of increasing stigma.
- An unlawful act is one not approved by law, but not necessarily against the law, either. It could be a civil wrong, or an offense that no one would consider particularly blameworthy, such as overparking.
- An illegal act is a violation of law, but even this term can apply to civil offenses.
- Illicit carries a strong connotation of immorality, and
- criminal denotes punishable wrongdoing.
Has Trump done anything that was CRIMINAL? Or just unlawful, or maybe illegal.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)We're also very likely to find he's committed illegal fraud against ins. companies and banks in terms of inflating/deflating the value and worth of things. He's almost surely committed tax fraud as well.
If Trump suborned perjury to Congress from Cohen, that'd also be criminal.
He also committed a crime with his Father in New Jersey in the form of illegal loans in the form of casino chip-buys that were never actually gambled with.
The Trump University scam would've been likely found to be criminal fraud if Trump wasn't a rich dude who could afford the best lawyers.
Just a few, off the top of my head ...
qwlauren35
(6,149 posts)nothing *criminal* yet. Just *illegal*. Jaywalking is illegal. No one is going to jail for it.
I want to know if he's done anything that he could do time for.
mr_lebowski
(33,643 posts)If he lied in any written answers to Mueller that would also be criminal.
And if Cohen can go to jail over the hush-money payments, Trump can as well (once he's not POTUS).
lunatica
(53,410 posts)Obstruction of justice, lying to the FBI, criminal coverup, giving away top security information to the Russians while meeting with them in the White House.
You know, stuff like that.