BILLINGS — It's the intersection on politics and justice playing out on a national stage.
In Montana, reaction is mixed to Tuesday's indictment of former President Donald Trump—highlighting what Lee Banville, political commentator and director of the University of Montana School of Journalism, says is two sides of the political issue.
“For both sides, I don’t know if this really changes anything," Banville said.
Court documents in Trump's indictment were finally unsealed Tuesday afternoon, outlining the 34 felony charges filed against the former president and the alleged scheme to pay hush money to three people during the 2016 presidential election, including two women who say they had affairs with Trump while he was married.
It's a familiar story. In 2018, Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty and was imprisoned for his role in paying out the hush money to one of the same women.
While paying hush money is not illegal, the way that it was paid out by Cohen and disguised as other types of transactions in business and campaign records allegedly violates New York law.
"Was a crime committed? And will the state of New York be able to prove that President Trump was responsible?" Banville said.
The president is accused of helping set up the whole system and of making those payments through the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust and the Trump Organization.
Banville says moving the case through the courts is going to take months if not years and will be messy.
“That whole legal question is a big question mark right now. All we know is, that process is starting and it’s going to take a long time and it’s going to be really complicated," Banville said.
Complicated especially with a public divided about the motive behind the indictment.
“It’s almost like a political Rorschach test, if you look at this and see a legal system off the rails being used for political purposes, that’s what you see. If you see it as a president who flouted norms and was dangerous, then this is accountability. And it’s very little wiggle room, you’re either one or the other," Banville said.
