Lawyers for former President Donald Trump in his fraud trial will need to “challenge the government at every opportunity” — including the statute of limitations determined in the case involving payments to two women, former Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax on Monday.
In an interview on "Wake Up America," Napolitano said he’s skeptical of the prosecution’s interpretation of the alleged crime's timeline.
“The government's theory — and the court has adopted the government's theory — is that because this was an act of deception, the deception was continuous, [that] the statute of limitations … didn't start to run until they were caught,” he explained.
“I don’t abide by that theory myself,” he asserted.
Napolitano noted the statute asserts “you got five years to bring a charge from the time the crime was committed.”
“The court says, Oh no, no, it's a continuous crime because it's an act of deception,” he said.
“So that argument is now history,” he conceded. " They need to prepare for this trial, and they need to challenge the government at every opportunity.”
Napolitano also pointed out the trial judge, Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, will have to determine if selected jurors can be fair, noting “nearly everyone has an opinion” about the former president.
“The judge asks the initial 45 or 50 questions to the pool. That's to 250, 300 of potential jurors,” Napolitano said. “If you survive that cut by saying, Yes, I can be fair, then the … lawyers begin asking specific, more precise questions to the jurors in an effort to get in their minds to find out if this person says they can be fair, but can they really be fair?”
“They're not allowed to ask what your religion is; they're not allowed to ask who you voted for; but they can ask just about anything else to get a picture of your brain and form a judgment on your fairness,” he added.
“Donald Trump is the best known human being on the planet … Can you put your opinion of him out of your mind? Can you presume that he is innocent until proven guilty?” Napolitano pointed out. “These are the things that you want to get their answers on.”
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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