A lawyer representing Donald Trump in one of his numerous legal battles was confronted on Fox News about the former president's recent Truth Social posts.
Trump is currently facing the first-ever indictment of a former president in United States history after a grand jury on Thursday voted in favor of charges stemming from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's probe into his alleged 2016 "hush money" payment. He is accused of unlawfully concealing a payment that his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, made to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about an affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006.
The indictment is expected to be unsealed on Tuesday, when Trump will reportedly surrender himself for arraignment in New York. The former president has denied that he had an affair with Daniels and has maintained his innocence in the case, dismissing Bragg's case as a politically motivated "witch-hunt" and an attempt by his political enemies to persecute him. Bragg's office, meanwhile, maintains that his actions violated campaign finance laws.
Jim Trusty is an attorney representing Trump in another case brewing against him, the Department of Justice's (DOJ) investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago residence by the FBI last August. During a recent appearance on Fox News Sunday, Trusty was pressed about recent posts Trump made on his social media platform, Truth Social, in which he attacked the judge overseeing the Manhattan case, Juan Merchan. In one post, Trump accused Merchan of hating him and of "strong-arming" some of his employees in a previous case the judge oversaw involving The Trump Organization.
"Well look, the [former] president's a big believer in free speech, as you know, he's got strong opinions," Trusty said when asked by host Shannon Bream if he thought the posts would make his job difficult. "I think he's very frustrated for some of his very loyal employees being caught up in the machinery of persecution, and so he feels strongly about it."
He continued: "I've never had a case in front of this judge. I certainly reserve judgment. I think we're in a position where a fair-minded judge, never mind getting to a jury and changes of venue, and some of the issues there, I think a fair-minded judge is likely to recognize there's something fundamentally wrong, [they] are crossing the Rubicon with this political persecution, and thankfully I suspect the indictment is going to be legally frail and there will be an opportunity for a judge to do the right thing."
Legal experts have suggested that, due to the structure of the New York State legal system, Trump's Manhattan charges are unlikely to reach a jury trial for at least a year. The state allows for a considerable amount of pretrial motions and appeals, including the ability to argue to a judge that evidence presented to a grand jury was faulty, a process that Trusty mentioned in his interview.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's communications team via email for comment.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
