The left is trying to keep former President Donald Trump off the campaign trail by using legal attacks against him, but that ploy won't succeed, former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said on Newsmax Sunday.
"These cases are going to continue to probably go into 2024," Whitaker, who served under Trump, told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "I don't know if any of them will ultimately go to the trial before then, but if they do, my sense in watching them is that the president's team is good in each case he has. He has good lawyers defending him in various jurisdictions."
Trump's supporters know he's a fighter who won't be distracted by attempts to disqualify him from the ballot or take him off the campaign trail, Whitaker added, "so he's going to continue to fight. I think a lot of Iowans and a lot of Americans have a lot of respect for that."
Meanwhile, 18 additional defendants are being charged in Georgia under RICO act indictments, along with Trump, and he's holding fundraisers to help with their legal defense, an action that is "very generous of his time, especially in the middle of a presidential race," said Whitaker.
Meanwhile, Trump has said he's going to take the stand in his trial in Georgia, which will be televised, and Whitaker said it is his constitutional right to take the stand and tell his story.
"In this case, where you're dealing with First Amendment-protected speech and political speech, it is important for that story to be told," he said. "His legal team and the president are going to have to make those decisions as the cases develop and if they feel that the case goes in well and they don't need him on the stand, that will be a game-time decision.
"Certainly, having tried cases both as a prosecutor and as a defense lawyer, I know that that decision is probably the last one you make before you put your case into the jury."
Whitaker also said he expects to see some appeals even before the trials start on some of the issues that are being presented, particularly with the "novel legal application and the stretching of the law beyond its natural breaking point."
That includes Georgia's racketeering charges, "trying to make misdemeanor offenses in New York felonies," or with special counsel Jack Smith using the Espionage Act against Trump, he added.
"Each one is going to be a case of first impression for an appeals court if it gets to them, and they're going to have to deal with that, and I think they're going to be very skeptical of how far these prosecutors going to use these laws," Whitaker said.
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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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