Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's grand jury had a wrench thrown into it by lawyer Robert Costello's testimony Monday, and it might have Bragg "reconsidering some things," according to constitutional law expert Alan Dershowitz on Newsmax.
The grand jury was dismissed for a Wednesday session and put on "standby" for Thursday, which Dershowitz told Wednesday's "Spicer & Co." is "not normal" and might be related to testimony from Costello, a former legal adviser for Michael Cohen and onetime lawyer for former President Donald Trump.
"Bragg may very well be reconsidering some things," Dershowitz told host Sean Spicer. "After all, Bob Costello really put a block in front of him. Costello was not called on to testify.
"He just basically burst into the grand jury room and testified, and made it almost impossible for Bragg to call Cohen as a witness."
Bragg likely did not want Costello to testify, but he would have been subjected to legal challenges if he had refused, according to Dershowitz.
"He didn't show the grand jurors most of the emails that Costello provided him," Dershowitz said. "He failed to disclose exculpatory information."
Also, Bragg might be concerned about his own legal accountability in this, according to Dershowitz.
"He may be worried about bar associations, because no prosecutor is allowed to put a witness on the stand that he has reason to believe will lie to the jury," Dershowitz said. "And believe me, Bragg and whoever is prosecuting this case in court has more than reason to believe that Cohen will lie. He's told Costello he will lie in order to avoid prison.
"Now, he went to prison. Who do you think he's blaming for that? Donald Trump. So he's going to continue to lie, so I don't think ethically that Bragg is entitled to put him on, which gives them only two options."
Drop the case or focus on someone else as the lead witness, Dershowitz continued.
"That's a weak case," he said.
Despite this, Dershowitz said Bragg is going to win politically though losing his attempt to "Get Trump," which is the name of Dershowitz's latest book.
"Bragg is not setting himself up to fail," Dershowitz said. "He will succeed. Even if the judges throw it out, he will campaign again and say, 'I tried my best. I fulfilled my promise. I tried to get Trump, but those judges, they threw it out. Blame it on them. Don't blame it on me.'
"I think that's the tactic he's going to use."
And because of the politically charged nature of Manhattan and the power of Democrat and establishment animus toward Trump, the case could sneak through.
"I think any kind of a reasonable judge will not allow this case to go to a jury," Dershowitz warned. "And the fear is, if it gets to a jury, we know that a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich and in New York, the bluest of cities, it's very possible that a petty jury would convict a ham sandwich if his name was Donald Trump.
"So it's really going to be up to the judges to dismiss this case. So far, Bragg has failed in his duties."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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