Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker shared his concerns that Donald Trump won’t face a “fair” jury ahead of his criminal hush money trial.
Whitaker, who was appointed to acting attorney general by Trump when he was president, appeared on NewsMax’s Saturday Report to offer his legal analysis of what he called a “weak case” against the former president. Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in New York, to which he has pled not guilty. This is the only criminal trial that has the potential to issue a verdict before the 2024 elections.
“But remember, President Trump is not going to be able to get a fair jury and an impartial jury in Manhattan, in New York City, because 70-plus percent voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election. President Trump did a poll that suggested 61% of the residents of Manhattan, said that they thought he was guilty,” Whitaker said. “And I just don’t think that jury pool is gonna be very fair and impartial like he’s entitled to under the Constitution.”
Trump attempted to change the venue ahead of the trial but was denied by Judge Juan Merchan. This judge, according to Whitaker, has proven to be “hostile” to Trump with his political donations to Trump’s opponent Joe Biden.
“We should not expect to get many rulings, or if any, in favor of President Trump. And remember, this case isn’t about the facts,” Whitaker said. “And as I laid out earlier, this is not a strong legal case. The Federal Election Commission has already said this isn’t a violation of federal law. The Southern District of New York has already passed, and Alvin Bragg’s predecessor already passed on this case, and so you just, it’s legally weak, but you know, they’re going to make us go through it, and I think, you know, hopefully, really beyond hope, we can get a jury that sees this for what it is, which is election interference — a completely weak case.”
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Porn star Stormy Daniels claimed that she is among the women who received hush money payments from the former president during the lead-up to the 2016 election.
Trump’s trial is set to begin on April 15, despite his lawyers’ efforts to delay it further. Jury selection was initially slated to begin on March 25, but that was delayed due to the motions filed by Trump’s lawyers.
