Former President Donald Trump cited some of his fiercest critics on Tuesday to underscore the political nature of his criminal trial in Manhattan.
Speaking with reporters before entering the courtroom, Trump reiterated that Democrat District Attorney Alvin Bragg is prosecuting him due to White House pressure.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
“This case all comes out of the White House,” Trump said. “It’s an attack on his [Joe Biden’s] political opponent.”
Trump listed several establishment media commentators who are critical of Bragg’s “witch hunt” prosecution. “Michael Moore said, ‘The proof of falsifying records has not been accomplished,'” Trump recalled Moore’s remark on CNN.
“On Good Morning America,” Trump continued, “they said, ‘We heard that expense payments to lawyers are legal expenses.'”
“That’s what they’re trying to get us on: the fact that we call a legal expense a legal expense,” Trump explained. “The legal expense that we paid was put down as a legal expense. There’s nothing else you could say.”
Trump continued to point to his critics in the media to discredit the prosecution. “NBC Today Show [said], ‘The challenge is that there is no smoking gun, no email, or tape to prove the president’s intent,'” Trump read.
Trump also pointed to legal analysts who believe the case against him is extremely shaky.
“Every single legal scholar that I see — I mean, maybe there’s somebody out there, some whack job — but virtually every one that I’ve seen has said there’s absolutely no case,” Trump said. “It’s a case that shouldn’t have been brought.”
Trump delivered the remarks to reporters before entering the courtroom, where adult film actress Stormy Daniels was expected to take the stand.
Stormy Daniels (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
On Monday, New York County Judge Juan Merchan ruled for a second time Trump violated his gag order during the trial, holding him in criminal contempt and threatening him with jail time for any further infractions.
Merchan fined Trump $1,000 for a single violation. Merchan previously fined Trump for nine violations. Trump’s tenth contempt offense occurred before the last order and not afterward. Trump did not push the boundaries after the first gag order ruling.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
