Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett has identified a tactic being used by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s prosecutors in their hush money trial against Donald Trump that is likely to help the former president out, at least on appeal.
Jarrett accused prosecutors working for Bragg of using an approach that led to the 2020 rape conviction against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein being overturned. In a 4-3 decision on Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the judge presiding over the trial erred by admitting testimonies from women unrelated to the 2020 case. The court stated that the appropriate remedy for these significant errors is a new trial. Jarrett said testimony in the first week of Trump’s trial did not address the charges he is facing.
“Nothing in the courtroom last week dealt with the actual charges, none of the witnesses actually testified about any relevant crime recognized by law,” Jarrett told “Fox and Friends” co-host Steve Doocy. “Instead, it was sort of this weird kabuki theater or theater of the absurd, Steve.
“I mean, David Pecker, who ran the National Enquirer, was on the witness stand most of the week and told us what we already knew. The tabloid was sleazy, promoting and killing stories. But, Steve, that’s not a crime. Paying people for their silence is not a crime. Influencing an election is not a crime, either. That’s what campaigns are designed to do,” Jarrett continued.
“Yet, Alvin Bragg’s legal minions in court keep using the words ‘conspiracy’ and ‘fraud.’ Well, Trump hasn’t been charged with that, so this hair-brain prosecution is exactly what Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch warned about during the immunity hearing last week,” the legal eagle continued.
In March 2023, Bragg obtained an indictment against Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. The case revolves around a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 as part of a confidentiality agreement. Jarrett remarked that the discussion of Trump’s purported affair with former Playboy model Karen McDougal was deemed “irrelevant” to that specific case.
“It was the introduction of similar bad acts, which is exactly what led to the reversal of Harvey Weinstein’s sex crime cases, and yet this judge is allowing that sort of evidence,” Jarrett told Doocy. “The goofiest part of this prosecution is that Bragg claims Trump falsified private business records to influence an election.”
“But look at the indictment: All of the alleged bookkeeping offenses happened in 2017, after the 2016 election. It’s a pretty neat trick to unlawfully influence an election after it occurred,” Jarrett added.
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