Speaking on Thursday, May 30, after a New York jury convicted former President Donald Trump on all 34 counts of falsification of business records, attorney and legal expert Alan Dershowitz warned that the New York Appellate court’s judges are “terrified” of helping Trump and so are unlikely to help him by overturning the verdict.
Dershowitz’s warning on the subject came after he established his credibility on predictions about the subject by noting that he predicted the Manhattan jury would convict the former president numerous times. He then argued that they are likely very biased against the former president and so have no interest in helping him.
Beginning his discussion of the subject, Dershowitz argued that this shows America is a “banana republic” and is a very sad day both for Trump and the country. “This is a very sad day for American justice. I have now added one banana to my usual banana republic: A grouping, umm, we’re up to seven or eight at this point- and it’s a worse day for America than it actually is for Donald Trump,” he said.
Continuing, Dershowitz explained that, though he doesn’t know how it will impact his electoral chances, he thinks it is unlikely that Trump will get jail time when sentenced in July and, even if he does, that order will likely be stayed until the appeal can be heard. He said, “Don’t know what the impact will be on Trump. Don’t know what it’ll be on his electoral prospects, he’s probably not going to get jail time, and if he does, it would be stayed pending appeal.”
Dershowitz then tackled the subject of appeal, saying that New York’s appellate court is unlikely to want to help Trump, saying, “I don’t know whether the case will be reversed on appeal. I don’t think it would be reversed by the appellate division. These are judges who are terrified of being perceived of as helping Trump in any way.”
Building on that, he suggested it would probably not be until the case reaches the US Supreme Court that Trump might be helped, saying, “Don’t know whether or not the New York Court of Appeals in Albany will have the ability to not consider the impact it will have on individuals as judges. Surely the Supreme Court wouldn’t, but that’s a way off and there wouldn’t be a decision by the Supreme Court, probably before the election.”
Dershowitz also spoke about the injustice of the decision, saying, “This is still the weakest case I’ve ever seen in 60 years. The fact that the jury convicted based on false instructions, wrong instructions, based on the jurors having been between 85 and 90 percent picked from a veneer that hates Trump and doesn’t want him to be president, the fact that the jury convicted doesn’t make this case any stronger or any better.”
He added that the jury’s unanimous decision shows more about the biased jury than the strength of the case, saying, “I was recently just 15 minutes ago on with The Times of London and they were saying, ‘Well, doesn’t the fact that the jury convicted prove it was a strong case?’ No, no! It proves that it was of a case that was brought in a jurisdiction where a conviction was almost assuredly guaranteed.”
Then, speaking about the weakness and imperfection of juries, Dershowitz added, “Juries are imperfect and juries represent the biases of individuals. We do live in the age of Trump syndrome, people can’t talk rationally about Donald Trump any more than they can talk rationally about Israel or about some other subjects.”
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