‘Otherworldly’ Political Bias: GWU’s Turley Says Trump Hush Money Judge Just Compromised Case
Charlie Kirk Staff
05/29/2024

Judge Juan Merchan, the judge in the trial of former President Donald Trump brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, has cemented his legacy as a political activist.
He gave the jury in the alleged hush money case instructions on Wednesday that defied the United States Constitution.
He informed them that if a group of 4 of them decides the former president is guilty of one crime, as another group of four decides he is guilty of another crime, but not the first, and still a third group of four decides he is guilty of still another crime, he will count hat as a unanimous decision.
The deck is so stacked that the former president not being convicted would be monumental, as legal expert Jonathan Turley said on Fox News on Tuesday night, even before these ridiculous instructions were given.
“You had some amazing observations today. The defense had to live in Judge Merchan’s small neighborhood while allowing the prosecutors to go globetrotting with whatever theory they wanted to throw out or any allegations with pure impunity here, and you actually went and said, “while allowing prosecutors to state these transactions were campaign violations, Merchan turned this into a can’t-hunt. How is a juror supposed to question the charges when the jury starts with this erroneous assumption?” You’re a professor of law. How could that be in this country? It sounds to me like cinder blocks were put on the scales of justice by the judge that wants an outcome. Am I wrong?” host Sean Hannity said.
“It’s not that I haven’t seen anything like this. I haven’t even read anything like this. What I saw in that courtroom was otherworldly. I really attempted to give the judge the benefit of doubt on many occasions but what I saw today was, frankly, outrageous,” the legal expert said.
“At one point, the prosecutor actually said Michael Cohen committed federal election violations upon the orders of Donald Trump. Now, Merchan, has given an instruction that the jury is not to supposed to attribute the plea deal as an issue of guilt towards Trump. So the defense and Merchan just overruled it and allowed the prosecutor to repeatedly state that the federal election violations by Trump are a fact, and there is not any dispute to that, and Merchan just sat there,” he said.
“He was as useful as a ficus plant in that courtroom. I kept on waiting, looking at him for some sign he was even listening to some of these arguments. At one point, one of the prosecutors said that Hope Hicks burst into tears because she knew that she destroyed any defense by Donald Trump. Really? How do you know that?” he said.
“And another point, the prosecutor basically started to testify and said that catch-and-kill techniques are just not used in media or politics, that this is beyond anything that the media or political groups have ever done. That’s not in the record. He was giving testimony. There’s no expert for that,” he said.