If Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has enough evidence to convict former President Donald Trump, then it should be able to agree to a motion to move his trial out of liberal-friendly Manhattan and to another city borough such as Staten Island, former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said on Newsmax Sunday.
"If they're so confident in this case, why wouldn't they be willing to move it anywhere in New York, including Staten Island or upstate where it's a more conservative jury pool?" Whitaker, who served under Trump, said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "Why are they going to insist on trying this in Manhattan, where we all know that they voted for Hillary Clinton in droves?"
Whitaker also on Sunday discussed the timeline of the case, and how the Department of Justice had opted out of pursuing the matter, which involves a 2016 election-year hush money payment of $130,000 from Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, to adult film star Stormy Daniels over her allegations of having had a sexual encounter with Trump. Trump admitted reimbursing Cohen but denies Daniels' allegations.
"Michael Cohen pled guilty to the flip side of the corner of this charge, and I remember at the time the Southern District of New York could never have proven it at trial and could never have gotten that charge," said Whitaker, adding that Cohen's plea to paying the hush money was "obviously to embarrass the president."
"The Southern District of New York looked at it as related to President Trump, and they decided that it wasn't substantiated," said Whitaker. "Obviously, the Federal Election Commission also looked at a similar charge."
But they all decided not to prosecute because of the idea that in election law, if an expense is for mixed purposes, it's not a campaign expense, said Whitaker.
"The settlement with the actress Stormy Daniels obviously had more than just a campaign purpose," said Whitaker. "Now, Alvin Bragg has to prove that federal election claim in his case."
The indictment against Trump remains sealed, so the exact charges against him remain "a little unknown," said Whitaker, "but I would expect it will have to prove that case at trial in state law, and that's where it's going to get really interesting."
Meanwhile, Trump will be arraigned on Tuesday, and under the Constitution, he has the right to a speedy trial unless he waives that right, said Whitaker.
An extension would allow time for arguments on several motions, including a change of venue or even for a change of judge, said Whitaker.
There may also be difficulty in seating a jury in Manhattan, said Whitaker.
The question for jurors will not only be whether they've heard of Trump, but whether they can be fair and impartial, he added.
"Picking a jury is more art than science, and I've done it many times as a prosecutor, and as a defense lawyer," Whitaker said. "You try to get inside the head to see if somebody can actually listen to the evidence and make a fair and impartial decision. There's so much anti-Trump bias, especially in Manhattan that I just don't see a chance for President Trump if it goes to trial to get a fair shake."
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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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