Legal scholar Professor Jonathan Turley has weighed in on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against President Donald Trump, arguing that the Democrat prosecutor’s own witnesses have derailed the so-called “hush money” trial.
Bragg’s prosecution of Trump has been significantly undermined by the testimony of the state’s own witnesses, according to Turley, a professor at George Washington University Law School.
In a column for The Hill, Turley said the prosecution’s witnesses have “contradicted the basis for the prosecution.”
Trump has been charged with allegedly trying to hide “hush money” payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Daniels says she had a sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump denies the claim, however, and no evidence has been produced to support the allegations.
Bragg’s prosecutors say the alleged “hush money” was part of a criminal scheme to interfere in the 2016 election.
Nevertheless, the prosecution has failed to connect Trump to any such payments.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that, even if Trump did make the payments, it wouldn’t be a crime and he would have a right to do so for personal reasons unrelated to campaigning, like protecting his family from embarrassment.
The prosecution’s star witness is Trump’s disgraced former lawyer Michael Cohen.
Cohen himself has been accused of having an affair with Daniels and conspiring with the adult star to extort money from Trump.
Aside from the rest of Cohen’s shady past, he was also jailed for perjury.
Turley noted that Cohen is a “disbarred serial perjurer.”
The law professor dismissed the testimony of other witnesses as tangential or even beneficial to Trump.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker “said that he killed stories for various celebrities for years and that he did so for Trump for over a decade before he ran for office,” Turley wrote.
Daniels’ former lawyer Keith Davidson said he did not think of the payment as “hush money,” Turley wrote.
Former Trump aide Hope Hicks gave the defense a boost with her comments about the 45th president’s concern for his family, Turley noted.
“I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that happened on the campaign,” she told Trump lawyer Emil Bove.
“He wanted them to be proud of him.”
The witnesses have also been disparaging toward Cohen, Turley observed.
Hicks quipped that Cohen called himself “Mr. Fix It” but only because he caused the problems he was claiming to fix.
Cohen, now bitter rivals with Trump, was incarcerated for three years in federal prison after he pled guilty to crimes including lying to Congress.
He is a key part of the case against Trump because Cohen arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels.
Cohen claims the service fees he was paid were reimbursements from Trump for the payment.
Aside from Cohen’s word, there is no other evidence to support this claim.
“So Cohen will now make the pitch to the jury that they should put his former client in jail for following his own legal advice,” Turley wrote.
“This would be difficult even for a competent and ethical lawyer,” Turley added.
“For Cohen, it is utter insanity.”
