A former lawyer for former President Donald Trump predicted that his current legal team would make a motion to dismiss the case against him, given the nature of the charges and the fact that in their original form, they are long past the statute of limitations.
Jesse Binnall is not involved in the current case against Trump, but has worked on other cases involving the former president in the past.
“I think you’re gonna see a motion to dismiss,” Binnall said on the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show. “There’s a lot of fodder for a motion to dismiss- specifically statute limitations.”
Trump was indicted on 34 counts of falsifying business records, normally a misdemeanor with a two-year statute of limitations.
Will the case make it to trial?
But Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg decided to bootstrap the charges to another crime, one that he did not specify in the indictment but that turned the charges into a felony.
Legal experts like Jonathan Turley and Alan Dershowitz, neither of whom supports Trump politically, have said they think the case is weak, so it may not survive even a preliminary hearing currently scheduled for December.
The timing of that hearing is suspect, given that GOP primaries will begin shortly after the trial would take place if the case does survive.
Bragg campaigned on “getting Trump,” but will he? It doesn’t look hopeful based on the weakness of the case.
“It’s laughable”
Binnall also suggested that the judge in the case, Juan Merchan, may be asked to recuse himself because of bias.
“We’re gonna have to really see if this is the right judge as well,” he continued. “And this judge, I think, needs to take a really hard look to see if he can truly be impartial in this case. And very possibly, I think we can be looking at a recusal motion as well.”
Then there’s the proposed trial venue. New York City has some of the most liberal juries in the world.
“There’s no chance that Donald Trump’s gonna get a fair trial in Manhattan,” he stated. “I mean, it’s laughable. All the American people on both sides of the aisle know that there’s no fair trial available there.”
Bragg interfering in election
Trump’s lawyers could move for a change of venue to be rid of allegations of unfairness, but it may not be granted.
For a DA who didn’t want Trump to get away with “interfering” in an election long past, he sure is doing a lot of “interfering” himself.