On the eve of closing arguments in the business records case in New York City, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley wrote Monday that former President Donald Trump should be found "not guilty."
Turley asserted that defense lawyers for Trump "are in a rather curious position" — what crimes, exactly, are they defending Trump against? Because here at the end of the trial, prosecutors still have not clearly stated what Trump did, Turley wrote in an opinion column for the New York Post.
"Even liberal legal analysts admitted that they could not figure out what was being alleged in [District Attorney Alvin] Bragg's indictment. Now, after weeks of trial, the situation has changed little," Turley wrote.
Judge [Juan] Merchan has ruled that the jury does not have to agree on what that crime is," Turley added. "The jury has been given little substantive information on these crimes, and Merchan has denied a legal expert who could have shown that there was no federal election violation."
Turley put the prosecution's case in the illustration of a three-legged stool.
"If any leg is missing, the stool collapses," he wrote, breaking down how the prosecution's case stands:
- Falsification of records;
- Secondary crime;
- Criminal intent.
Regarding falsification, defense witnesses have made it clear it was an antiquated system that labeled payments as "legal expenses," and "there was no evidence that Trump knew of how the payments were denoted," Turley wrote.
Secondary crime? There isn't one, Turley wrote.
"The defense has to hammer away on the fact that no one has testified that it was a federal campaign violation," he wrote.
The prosecution leaned on Michael Cohen's testimony to show criminal intent, "yet even Cohen did not offer a clear basis for showing a criminal intent to use unlawful means to influence the election," Turley wrote. In fact, once defense attorneys discredited Cohen's testimony, the only true crime he could attest to was stealing $60,000 from the Trump Organization, Turley wrote.
All that's left is a wobbly stool, he asserted.
"In the end, this three-legged stool is the very thing that all of us must stand on when accused. Who on the jury would want to stand on this stool with their own liberty at stake?" he wrote.
"In the end, we are all standing on that wobbly stool when the government seeks to convict people without evidence or even a clear crime. If we allow a conviction, it is more than a stool that will collapse in this Manhattan courtroom," Turley concluded.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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