There's a "real risk" former President Donald Trump will be convicted in his New York criminal trial despite the prosecution failing to show a crime, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Tuesday.
Cruz, appearing on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, said the trial has gone "disastrously" for the prosecution despite a "biased" prosecutor, Attorney General Alvin Bragg, and a "partisan" judge, Juan Merchan.
Still, Cruz said he's concerned about the outcome.
"I think the trial has gone disastrously for the prosecution, including yesterday, the rather remarkable testimony from [former Trump attorney] Michael Cohen that he stole tens of thousands of dollars from Donald Trump. The only testimony we have of a crime is now from the star witness admitting that he's a thief," Cruz told Hewitt.
"All of that being said, I think there is still a very real risk this trial ends with a conviction because you have an extremely biased prosecutor, you have an extremely biased and partisan judge, and given the jury pool in New York, I think it is certainly possible that you have jurors who cannot stand Donald Trump.
"And so, facts of law notwithstanding, it would not be surprising to see this end with a conviction."
Trump has been accused of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
After saying he believes a conviction would be overturned on appeal, Cruz added that such a verdict would give Democrats what they sought by charging Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, in this year's election.
"If it does [end with a conviction], I'm confident that will be overturned on appeal," Cruz told Hewitt, "but the appeal doesn't happen until after the election, which is the whole point. This is about the election, nothing else.
"This is theater. This is politics. This is nothing resembling law. And this is to enable a billion dollars of campaign ads between now and election day that consistently refer to 'convicted felon Donald Trump.'"
In a separate interview, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who, like Cruz, is a graduate of Harvard Law School, told Hewitt the trial has been "a total denial of due process." Cotton added that Merchan should rule with a directed verdict instead of giving the case to the jury.
"[There's] not a shred of evidence of any crime that Donald Trump has committed," Cotton said. "There's no question that this judge should enter a directed verdict of not guilty for Donald Trump. It is the only way to redeem his multiple erroneous reversible errors throughout this trial."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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