(ProsperNews.net) – Legal expert Jonathan Turley said Donald Trump’s New York trial, where he faces falsifying documents charges, is “absurd.” Speaking to Dana Perino on Fox News, Mr. Turley said the case appeared explicitly tailored to target the former President and created a “criminal code just for Trump.”
Turley said the prosecution argument is that Trump falsified documents to cover up a federal crime, even though no federal crime was committed. “None of that appears to matter,” he said. The payment Trump allegedly tried to conceal was one made by his former attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with the former President. Paying “hush money” is not a federal crime, so Trump is not guilty of concealing one, Turley stated. However, the prosecution alleges the payment intended to influence the 2016 election, a federal offense.
The trial got underway in New York on April 15 and was immediately controversial. For example, sixty out of 96 potential jurors were dismissed on bias grounds, Mr. Trump allegedly fell asleep in court, and the former President visited a Harlem bodega.
On day one, during jury selection, dozens of jurors said they could not maintain impartiality. Questions asked of them included what newspapers they read and whether they had ever attended a Trump rally or read his books.
Speculation that the former President fell asleep in court prompted mockery and ridicule from some media figures. The New York Times’s Maggie Haberman, reporting from the Manhattan courtroom, said Trump “appeared to nod off a few times.” Trump’s team later denied the claim, calling it “fake news” from people who weren’t even there.
On day two, after his day in court, President Trump went to Harlem and spoke to bodega owner Maad Ahmed, whose former employee Jose Alba stabbed an intruder to death in 2022. Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, who is prosecuting Trump, initially charged Alba with murder, but a judge later dismissed the case.
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