Alvin Bragg Should Follow Key 'Roadmap' in Trump Trial: Alan Dershowitz

The prosecutors in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump are in danger of following a doomed "roadmap to what you can't do" that was established by the reversal of the conviction in the Harvey Weinstein case, according to lawyer and legal analyst Alan Dershowitz.

"I can't imagine how the Court of Appeals in New York that reversed the Harvey Weinstein conviction—which was a harder case to reverse—wouldn't reverse this conviction if it got up there," Dershowitz said of the Trump case during a Fox News appearance on Tuesday following testimony from adult film star Stormy Daniels.

"I would certainly recommend to the prosecutors in this case that they study the Weinstein case very carefully, because it gives a roadmap to what you can't do," he added. "This prosecutor is just following the roadmap of what you can't do."

Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction was overturned last month in a 4-3 majority decision by New York's Court of Appeals, with the court ruling that the former Hollywood film producer had not received a fair trial in part because the judge made improper rulings that allowed testimony concerning allegations that were not pertinent to the case.

Dershowitz, a Harvard Law School professor emeritus who served on Trump's legal team during his first impeachment, told Newsweek over the phone on Wednesday that "the thrust of the Weinstein reversal was that the trial court allowed too much evidence that was more prejudicial than it was probative," while arguing that "the same thing is happening" at the Trump trial.

Tuesday's testimony from Daniels—one of two women who allegedly received hush-money payments in 2016 that prosecutors say Trump tried to conceal by illegally falsifying business records—included salacious remarks concerning her alleged affair with Trump, details that Dershowitz argues are irrelevant to the case.

"When the judge allows testimony about Donald Trump's pajamas and his missionary position and his Old Spice, the only purpose there is to prejudice," said Dershowitz. "Because the issue in the case isn't even whether they had sex, the issue is whether she tried to extort him by saying she had sex."

"So, I really do think that that the case would be reversed based on the Weinstein precedent, and other mistakes," he continued. "But the Weinstein precedent would be a central point."

Newsweek reached out for comment to Bragg's office and Trump lawyer Todd Blanche via email on Wednesday.

Merchan expressed surprise that the former president's legal team did not object more to Daniels offering the graphic details of her alleged affair with Trump from the stand on Tuesday. Dershowitz told Newsweek that Merchan's remarks amounted to "judicial malpractice."

"That's judicial malpractice," Dershowitz said. "Judges constantly are screaming at lawyers for becoming chattering magpies. I have had this so many times, where a judge says, 'Stop objecting, you've made your objection, you don't have to keep repeating yourself.' "

"The idea that you have to get up every time in front of the jury and say, 'I object?' Every trial lawyer will tell you that that is just not what judges should do... That's just judicial malpractice." he added. "[The defense's other objections were] much more than enough."

During Dershowitz's Hannity interview on Tuesday, he also argued that Merchan is determined to convict Trump "no matter what," saying the judge wants his daughter to "make money" from the conviction," arguing that the trial is "corrupt" from "beginning to end."

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told Newsweek that failing to object during key moments in the testimony of Daniels could hurt the former president's chances for a mistrial or a successful appeal, saying that "the defense has only itself to blame" for allowing Daniels to introduce "way too much irrelevant and prejudicial evidence."

"Because [the Trump team] failed to object in a timely manner, the defense waived their objections both in a motion for mistrial and on appeal," Rahmani said. "Under these circumstances where a party fails to object, an appellate court can only reverse if there is 'clear error' and there was none here."

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all 34 felony charges in the New York case and maintains that he never had affairs with Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, the other woman who allegedly received hush-money payments during his first presidential campaign.