Jesse Binnall, an attorney for Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Thursday that New York Judge Juan Merchan stacked the deck against the former president so much, the jury had no choice but to convict.
Trump became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony crimes when a New York jury found him guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover a $130,000 payment made by disgraced former attorney Michael Cohen to porn actor Stormy Daniels.
"The judge was very clear from the beginning that he was going to ensure a conviction against Donald Trump," Binnall told "Rob Schmitt Tonight." "He made that clear from the scheduling for the trial. He made that clear from the selection of jurors, making sure that any fair-minded juror was excluded from the jury panel. He made it clear when he conducted the trial and let Stormy Daniels say whatever she wanted from the witness stand, and then the minute [defense witness] Bob Costello said anything he didn't like, he read him the riot act.
"He made it very clear from the jury instructions when he just said it was too confusing to properly instruct the jury on the law, and that they didn't need to be unanimous on an underlying crime, which was absolutely preposterous. This judge was out from the beginning to get Donald Trump. He brought Marxism to America through this show trial, through this kangaroo court."
Since Merchan was assigned to the case, questions arose regarding his ability to be impartial. Merchan reportedly made small donations to the Democrat Party and President Joe Biden in 2020, and his daughter, Loren, has an ownership stake and leadership role in Authentic Campaigns Inc., a digital marketing and fundraising agency that exclusively services Democrat clients, including the Senate Majority PAC, Rep. Adam Schiff of California, and the 2020 campaign of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
On the first day of the trial April 15, Merchan denied a motion by Trump's legal team to recuse himself.
Binnall said Merchan erred in his jury instructions by referring to certain pieces of evidence that they can consider in their deliberations, which some might derive as him instructing them in ways to convict Trump.
"That's exactly what he was doing with those jury instructions," Binnall said. "It's absolutely improper that he mentioned those specific pieces of evidence to lead the jury to the result that he wanted. But let's add to the fact that, for instance, he also refused to properly instruct the jury that any offense must be willful, which is a standard jury instruction for an offense like this.
"Let's also remember that he had them decide matters of federal campaign finance law without properly instructing on them, or let them hear from a leading expert on federal campaign finance law [Bradley Smith], the former chair of the Federal Election Commission, who was going to explain that none of the prosecution's allegations could have possibly amounted to a violation of federal election law.
"This judge, all along, was giving the jury no way out other than a conviction."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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