Law professor Jonathan Turley slams opening of Trump hush money trial: ‘This is an embarrassment’

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley harshly criticized the opening of an alleged “hush money” case against former President Donald Trump on Monday, claiming it was a “total embarrassment.” 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying financial documents in order to cover up an alleged affair with former porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors claim that Trump gave money to his former lawyer Michael Cohen in 2016, who passed the money to Daniels.   

Prosecutors also claimed that Trump conspired to influence the 2016 election by hiding the payments and covering up the alleged affair, which could have potentially been damaging to his campaign.

“What is clear is in this case, Trump is right,” Turley told Fox News. “I mean, this is an embarrassment. I mean, the fact that we are actually talking about this case being presented in a New York courtroom leaves me in utter disbelief. I mean, the arguments today did in fact capture all the problems here. You know, you had this misdemeanor under state law that had run out. This is going back to the 2016 election. And they zapped it back into life by alleging that there was a campaign finance under federal laws that doesn’t exist. The Department of Justice doesn’t view it this way.”  

Trump’s team has argued that Cohen stands to gain financially from Trump's legal difficulties, according to CNN. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts.  

Turley claimed that the allegations Trump is facing is similar to what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did with the Steele Dossier, which her campaign funded to investigate claims that Trump colluded with Russia in 2016 to win the election. Clinton’s campaign claimed the dossier was a legal expense.

“This is what Hillary Clinton’s people did,” Turley said. “Remember, when they funded the Steele Dossier, which they denied to reporters. They put it as a legal expense, and then they fought the eventual fine that they received from the federal government saying ‘but it was a legal expense.’ But now you’ve got some of the same Democrats supporting this same bizarre theory.”

Todd Blanche, a defense attorney representing Trump, reaffirmed the former president’s innocence.

"President Trump did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan district attorney’s office should never have brought this case,” Blanche said in the opening statement.