Fox’s Jonathan Turley Says Trump Has No Shot Getting Judge Booted from Hush Money Trial: Would Be ‘Easier to Move the Courthouse’
Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley predicted former President Donald Trump’s attempt to remove the judge in his New York hush money trial will fail.
Trump’s lawyers in a court filing earlier this week asked Judge Juan Merchan to recuse himself from the trial, claiming his daughter’s past work as a political consultant for a Democratic client would create a conflict of interest.
During an interview with anchor Dana Perino on Wednesday, Turley reacted to the legal standing of Trump’s argument for Merchan’s recusal. Turley noted it is unlikely Trump’s legal team will be successful in removing the judge two weeks before the trial is set to start.
PERINO: Does the Trump team have standing here with this concern here?
TURLEY: Well they have standing. You know you can bring this in a court of law. That’s where this belongs. It shouldn’t be hashed out in social media. Attorneys all the time raise not just conflicts, but the appearance of conflict. Some involve family members. Indeed, many on the left have long attacked Supreme Court Justices over their family members and their activities. But with two weeks to go, it probably be easier to move the courthouse than the judge in this case. And the reason is that they are very reluctant, unless you have something quite direct and sort of unassailable. We don’t know what they have. But generally, the activities of an adult child, do not prove determinative for these types of motions that once that child is an adult, then their actions are not attributed to those of the judge or vice versa.
The Republican nominee’s criminal case is expected to begin April 15th, while Trump faces three other criminal indictments in three separate jurisdictions. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to cover a $130,000 hush money payment given to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.
