There is a "substantial" likelihood that former President Donald Trump's trial will be moved out of highly liberal Manhattan and to another borough in New York City, as there is "no chance" he could get a fair trial unless the proceedings are moved, Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz said on Newsmax Sunday.
"Over 85% of Manhattan voters voted against Trump, and people hate Trump," Dershowitz said during Newsmax's special coverage about the Trump indictment. "There is no chance he can get a fair trial in Manhattan. It ought to be moved either to Staten Island or Rockland County or upstate New York. Where people don't have the same passion about Donald Trump."
He further said that a judge or juror in Manhattan would not be likely to want to clear Trump of charges against him, out of fear of retribution.
Dershowitz pointed to a Saturday New York Times article, which discussed the pushback Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg got when he initially decided not to seek an indictment against Trump.
"[It said] how New Yorkers just hated him [Bragg] and went after him," said Dershowitz. "Can you imagine a judge in Manhattan or a juror in Manhattan being the one responsible for freeing Donald Trump, for doing justice and doing the right thing and freeing Donald Trump? Nobody would ever talk to them. They'd be treated the way I was treated on Martha's Vineyard when I defended Donald Trump on the floor of the Senate."
It is also a "core violation" of the statute of limitations guidelines to indict Trump, said Dershowitz.
The indictment has not been unsealed, but the case reportedly revolves around a hush-money payment made during the 2016 presidential campaign to an adult film actress alleging a sexual encounter with the then-candidate, but the state is arguing that it could not have indicted Trump sooner because he was out of state, Dershowitz said.
"The state says we couldn't indict him because he was out of the state, as he was in the White House or Florida," Dershowitz commented. "But they did indict him when he was out of the state. The indictment came down when he was in Florida, undercutting their argument that they couldn't indict him when he was out of state. There's absolutely no reason why over the last 6.5 years they couldn't have."
That means "any reasonable judge" should throw out the case on the first day, said Dershowitz.
"Any first-year law student should be able to win this case on day one, but this is Donald Trump. This is Manhattan and I don't think judges have the courage to come back to their family and their friends and say, 'I'm the one who freed Donald Trump and gave him a chance to become the next president of the United States.'"
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.