Donald Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen said nothing to implicate the former president in an illegal act during testimony Monday in the Manhattan criminal trial, respected law professor Jonathan Turley said.
Turley used a New York Post opinion column to offer his take on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's star witness, who took the stand Monday.
Trump has been accused of falsifying bank records to hide a hush-money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.
"With the prosecution's case almost over, Bragg needed Cohen to clearly state that Trump intentionally committed fraud to conceal some still poorly defined crime," wrote Turley, an attorney and professor at George Washington University Law School.
"The problem is that Cohen only confirmed that Trump knew he was going to pay for the nondisclosure agreement and that it would be buried before the election. None of that is unlawful."
Turley added that Cohen "only succeeded in confirming that he put together this payment and advised Trump to go forward with it."
"He [Cohen] assured him [Trump] that it would effectively kill the story before the [2016] election," Turley wrote.
"None of that is illegal. The 'fix-it man' assured Trump that he fixed it and now wants Trump to go to jail for following that advice."
Turley said that "absent a sudden epiphany" in Cohen's final testimony on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan should rule in favor of a directed verdict and throw out the case before it goes to a jury.
"If he instead sends this farcical case to the jury, it is Merchan, not Cohen, who may have a better claim to a reality show as the ultimate 'Fix-It Man,'" Turley wrote.