Prominent attorney Alan Dershowitz and legal analyst Gregg Jarrett, Friday on Fox News, called out New York Judge Juan Merchan for his updated sentencing schedule, saying that city officials and the judge brought a “sham trial” against President-elect Donald Trump.
With fewer than three weeks until Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, Merchan released a filing Friday evening ordering that Trump’s sentencing in his New York case be scheduled for Jan. 10, writing that there is “no legal impediment” to impose the former president’s sentencing. On “Hannity,” guest host Jason Chaffetz questioned the two legal pundits about their views. Dershowitz, given the case’s political motivations, asked if Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul could pardon Trump.
“This is the worst instance of Stalinism in my 60-year career. Stalin was told, ‘Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.’ So Letitia James, the Democratic attorney general, and Alvin Bragg, the Democratic DA, tried to find a crime to convict Trump of, but they couldn’t,” Dershowitz said. “They couldn’t find the crime. They searched the books. They couldn’t find the crime, so they made one up out of whole cloth. A totally made-up case. If they can make up a case against Donald Trump, they can make it up against you too.”
“Now they’re trying to avoid him getting an appeal. One way of avoiding him getting an appeal was not sentencing him. Now they’re going to sentence him,” Dershowitz added. “There’s another possibility. The governor may pardon him. If the governor pardons him, then he still has the stigma of a conviction, and there’s a question about whether he can appeal if he’s been pardoned.”
During Trump’s trial, questions arose regarding President Joe Biden and his Department of Justice’s involvement in the case. Bragg added Biden’s former acting associate attorney general to his team in December 2022 to lead the probe into the Trump Foundation. Others, like Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, have called Bragg’s case against Trump “politically motivated,” arguing that a pardon would be “appropriate.”
Dershowitz went on to say that Bragg and Merchan are attempting to avoid an “appellate reversal,” knowing that the case would be reversed.
“They’re looking at every possible way of avoiding an appellate reversal because any decent appellate court, any decent appellate court, will reverse this conviction for a dozen different reasons. One, there was no crime. Two, there was immunity. Three, error after error after error. Four, recusal and disqualification. The worst criminal case in my memory. The worst,” Dershowitz said.
Jarrett then jumped in and said Merchan is attempting to “stain” Trump with a convicted felon “label” before his inauguration. The case, Jarrett added, was “politically driven” by Bragg and the “hostile judge.”
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“Well, Judge Merchan is determined to stain Donald Trump with a label [as a] convicted felon. To do that, though, he has to sentence him before inauguration. Otherwise, he can’t really technically call him a convicted felon,” Jarrett said. “So, Merchan is dangling what he thinks is a tantalizing offer. Agree to be sentenced next Friday, Mr. Trump, and there will be no incarceration or probation or anything. Complete discharge. Well, I doubt that Donald Trump will bite, and he shouldn’t bite.”
“He was found guilty by a biased jury of crimes that don’t even exist under the law. He was all but framed by a politically driven DA who worked in concert with a hostile judge who was required to recuse himself but refused to do it,” Jarrett added. “So this turned out to be a sham trial based on a convoluted, incoherent legal theory. As you point out, it was utterly absurd. It was rife with reversible errors by the judge, and it will eventually get overturned.”
Following a Manhattan jury’s guilty verdict on all 34 felony counts, Trump’s original sentencing date was scheduled for July 11. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s presidential immunity case before that date, triggering a delay in Merchan’s schedule. Despite the court ruling that presidents in office have immunity for “official acts” from criminal prosecution, Merchan declined to throw out the conviction and indefinitely delayed the sentencing following Trump’s win in November.
Jarrett said that Trump should fight the sentencing imposed by Merchan, adding that if that wasn’t possible, he could begin the process of appealing the case.
“But for now, I expect Trump to fight any sentencing. He wants to clear his name. He’ll probably seek a stay in the appellate court, so we’ll see what happens next week,” Jarrett said. “But if Trump does not get a stay, he still benefits because only after sentencing can he begin appealing the case on the merits and all the mistakes that Merchan made.”
Merchan has indicated that Trump will not receive any jail time. He wrote the former president may attend the Jan. 10 sentencing hearing virtually.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox News/”Hannity”)
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