David Schoen, who served as Donald Trump's impeachment lawyer, told Newsmax that the New York paperwork case against the president-elect "must be dismissed."
"I'll tell you what I think must happen: The case must be dismissed," Schoen told Newsmax's "Newsline" on Wednesday. "Remember, there are two issues now. One is the impact of the [Supreme Court] immunity decision and tainted evidence that went to the grand jury and went to the trial jury. It should be dismissed on those grounds, and that's what Judge [Juan] Merchan was going to rule on yesterday."
"However, given President Trump's election, there's another issue, and that is whether we prosecute or continue the criminal process at all for a sitting president," he said. "We know from the Oct. 16, 2000, OLC [Office of Legal Counsel] memo that we don't have an indictment, we don't continue the criminal process and the feds at all for a president. The underlying principles behind that document apply to any state prosecution."
Specifically, Schoen said, continuing the criminal process after Trump reenters the White House would be "a distraction for the president" as he carries out the functions of his office.
"The office of the presidency stands alone," he said. "There's a certain dignity of the office that requires that this case be dismissed. There's a check in this process, and that's the impeachment process, but we don't continue a criminal process for a number of very good reasons, including the principle that we don't allow one state to foul up the operation of the federal government and the office of the presidency."
Schoen also commented on former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz's nomination for attorney general and whether the allegations of sexual misconduct contained in a House Ethics report seem credible.
"We have the most politicized Department of Justice that I've seen," he said. "You can be sure if they had a shred of evidence supporting a criminal prosecution, that would have gone forward in this case, and that's worth a great deal of value, I think, in considering this thing. With respect to the committee report, again, if we had faith in the institution of these House committees, then maybe that would be one thing about releasing the report. But we saw the complete sham the Jan. 6 committee was. It's a politicized agenda. People are looking for the specter of salacious facts to come out or purported facts to come out, and that ruins the dignity of the process here."
"The president is entitled to nominate, and the Senate has certainly an important role," Schoen continued. "But in this case, we'll see what information they should have. But it would not be fair to go with this one remedy that's being considered, that is, release the transcript and not have the people testify publicly. There's no way anyone can judge their credibility, whether it's a made up story, and as Mr. Gaetz himself has said, at the end of the day, what on Earth are you talking about? The facts here, they may be salacious, but they may not be disqualifying."
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