This is how the fish rots from the head down.  Standards crumble at all levels of society when the powerful and prominent are seen to get away with flouting the law.  Kaja Whitehouse writes in the New York Post:

A lawyer for one of the NYPD cops accused of doing favors for bribes – including mile-high sex with this hooker on a free trip to Las Vegas – said his client’s behavior was no worse than Hillary Clinton’s.

“It’s similar to what the FBI said about Hillary Clinton, and why she wasn’t charged,” said John Meringolo, a lawyer for James Grant, who pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court Wednesday.

“She was unaware she was committing a crime. Here, there is no crime whatsoever.”

Meringolo described his client’s alleged actions — swapping police favors for expensive gifts like the wild trip with prostitute Gabi Grecko — as mere violations of police conduct.

Grant will probably not succeed in court.  But the fact that the plea is made, that it is heard, and that it reinforces the public’s skepticism that the legal and political systems are fair to ordinary people is what matters.  Faith in our political institutions is plummeting, and that is a dangerous situation.

James Grant

Photo: Stefan Jeremiah

Ex-hooker Gabi Grecko.

Photo: Annie Wermiel