Harvard law professor and author Alan Dershowitz told Newsmax on Wednesday that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is likely having "second thoughts" about his criminal case against former President Donald Trump, and that could be the reason he gave the grand jury in the case the day off.
"I think Bragg must be having a lot of second thoughts and must be under a lot of pressure, including from some Democrats who fear that an indictment might backfire," Dershowitz said during "Rob Schmitt Tonight" on Wednesday. "There's really no chance that an indictment in this case can succeed. There are too many barriers.
"The statute of limitations is two years for a misdemeanor; it's five years for a felony. Obviously, the statute provides that if he's trying to run away or escape, if you don't know where he is, the statute doesn't account for those periods of time; but everybody knew where he was. He was in the White House. He came to New York from time to time. They could have easily indicted him, but [Bragg's] predecessor decided that wasn't a strong enough case. So that would be very hard barrier to overcome."
Bragg empaneled a grand jury to hear evidence that Trump allegedly falsified business records logging a $130,000 payment in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels from his then-attorney Michael Cohen to keep her silent about an alleged affair years earlier.
An indictment of Trump from the grand jury has been anticipated since last week. But further testimony, including that on Monday of Cohen's attorney, Robert Costello, that includes emails from Cohen saying he acted alone in making the payment without Trump's knowledge, impeaches Cohen's testimony in front of the panel, which may now put an indictment out of reach, Dershowitz said.
"They're stringing together this felony and misdemeanor statute, so I suspect he's having second thoughts," he said. "I think probably Bob Costello gave him some nightmares by testifying in front of the grand jury that Cohen had told him that he had done this alone and that he would lie in order to stay out of prison. I think Bragg has to worry now, ethically, whether he can put Cohen on the witness stand knowing his past history of lying."
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