Iconic attorney Alan Dershowitz, who represented Donald Trump during his first impeachment trail, insisted that the former president could not receive a fair trial in Manhattan following his felony indictment on Thursday.
The charges are related to payments made to Stormy Daniels in 2016 and were brought forth by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg.
“Any first-year student could win this case if the name wasn’t Donald Trump and if it wasn’t in Manhattan,” said Dershowitz while discussing the indictment with Fox News host Sean Hannity. He continued, “This case has to get out of Manhattan. Will it get out of Manhattan? We don’t know.”
When asked about obtaining a change of venue, Dershowitz responded: “Of course. I would try to move it to Staten Island or some upstate venue.” He then added, “But could you imagine a judge or a juror coming home to their wife and family and friends and saying, ‘I’m the man, I’m the woman who let Donald Trump off.’ Nobody would ever speak to them again… There’s no possibility he can get a fair trial in Manhattan.”
Dershowitz also expressed his disapproval for Bragg’s decision to indict Trump after the statute of limitations had passed: “He could have indicted him any day over the last seven years,” he stated. “They deliberately violated the statute of limitations because no previous prosecutor would go after him. The very fact that the indictment came down when he was out of state proves that they could have indicted him any time before the indictment came down.”
Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett weighed in on the matter as well and argued that Bragg would face an uphill battle proving Trump’s involvement with allegedly falsifying records given how complex federal campaign finance laws can be: “Bragg would have to prove that Trump was personally involved in falsifying records, and then he’d have to prove that Trump understood the complex campaign finance laws that nobody can comprehend and then intended to violate those laws,” said Jarrett. He went on to note that non-disclosure agreements for money are not considered illegal by the Federal Election Commission despite personal motivations behind them.
