Fox’s Jonathan Turley Says DA Bragg Wants To Treat Trump Like a ‘Freak on a Leash’ For Four Years
Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley said Manhattan District Attorney wants to treat President-elect Donald Trump like a “freak on a leash” and elevate his own office to a “grotesque level.”
Turley joined America Reports on Tuesday following news that prosecutors asked that Trump’s sentencing in his New York hush money case be paused while Trump’s team seeks a dismissal in the case. Trump was found guilty in May on charges he falsified business records to conceal hush money payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up an affair ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump continues to deny knowledge of the payments and the affair.
Turley argued Bragg likely wants to keep everything “pending” through Trump’s second administration.
The legal analyst said:
“The position of Bragg’s office is what I have been worried about and we spoke about it early this morning, that the worst possible scenario in my view is to keep this matter pending during the four years of the administration. You cannot have a local district attorney treat a sitting president like a freak on a leash, where he’s just able to say that I will finish this work once you’re out of office.
It elevates the district attorney to a grotesque level. It also [sets] this local judge as determining the ultimate outcome of the president of the United States. It doesn’t serve the nation or justice to have that type of lingering question for the next four years. Now it certainly serves everyone in New York politically. It likely serves Bragg serves this judge politically, but it doesn’t serve the nation, and so the question that we’ll be looking at with this new hearing that’s likely to occur is whether the judge will listen to his better angels, and dismiss this case.”
Bragg suggested a full dismissal is not in order in Trump’s case, which means sentencing may not occur until Trump leaves office in 2029.
“No current law establishes that a president’s temporary immunity from prosecution requires dismissal of a post-trial criminal proceeding that was initiated at a time when the defendant was not immune from criminal prosecution and that is based on unofficial conduct for which the defendant is also not immune,” the filing from prosecutors to Judge Juan Merchan reads.
Turley called Bragg the “face of rage” if he continues to drag this case on.
“The worst option for justice and for this nation is to do what Bragg is suggesting, to allow him to hold this leash on a sitting American president for four years. This is — I just wrote a book on how this was an age of rage,” he said. “This is the face of rage. It’s addictive. It’s hard to let go. And they want to drag this out for four more years.”
Watch above via Fox News.
