Attorney Robert Costello's testimony to the New York grand jury hearing evidence on former President Donald Trump has "undercut the entire theory of the case" being presented by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker told Newsmax on Saturday.
"I think it's back to the drawing board because with this evidence we now know in this case, obviously, there's no trial jury that's ever going to convict Donald Trump of these charges," Whitaker, who served under the former president, told Newsmax's "Saturday Report" about the proceedings.
Bragg's office is seeking an indictment on charges connected with a hush-money payment made by Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult film actress Stormy Daniels after her claims to have had an affair with Trump.
But Whitaker said he does not think the grand jury will indict Trump, as "there's just no evidence to suggest wrongdoing here."
Cohen is Bragg's star witness, and Whitaker said he's known as a "convicted perjurer and felon," who has also changed his story since 2018 when he said the money he paid Daniels was "not reimbursed; it was not a business expense; and it wasn't a campaign expense."
Costello, a former legal adviser for Cohen, told Newsmax this week that Bragg gave the grand jury investigating Trump incomplete evidence by presenting only a fraction of the emails Costello and Cohen had exchanged.
"It doesn't take much of a low bar to get a grand jury indictment," Whitaker said. "Obviously, in a high-profile case like this, Alvin Bragg does not want to go in and get no billed ... he's got to try to find evidence that can get them over this hoop. Because even if he can convince a grand jury, which is a very low bar, there's just no way that even in New York City that a trial jury would convict with conflicting evidence."
Further, Cohen is a "terrible witness to put on the stand when the first question is, 'Were you lying then, or you're lying now?'" said Whitaker. "That is obviously detrimental to anyone's case."
Trump said last Saturday that he expected to be "arrested" this past Tuesday, but the grand jury in New York will not convene again until Monday.
Whitaker also addressed the possibility that Bragg is using the proceedings to boost his ambitions for a higher office, but said that future ambition "has nothing to do with doing the job and obeying the rule of law."
"[With] the facts in this case, based on everything we know right now, I just don't see how Alvin Bragg can proceed," he said.
Meanwhile, grand jury proceedings are "supposed to be secret" and the targets of their investigations should not be made public, said Whitaker.
"These cases don't always go as planned, and you don't always get an indictment and investigation," he said. "Obviously, if President Trump wasn't who he is, plus if he wasn't running again to be the 47th president, I don't think we would have this case in the news at all."
Further, Whitaker said that the case against Trump "is weak."
"It's getting weaker by the day," said Whitaker, adding that the news is putting the country through a lot, but "it just shows you Alvin Bragg is not being an objective person and a prosecutor of integrity in this case."
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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.
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