Former President Trump’s lawyer Will Scharf on Sunday previewed a planned appeal of Trump’s criminal conviction and slammed the “weaponization” of the U.S. justice system under the Biden administration, citing the example of former Justice Department officials helping Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg prosecute a criminal case against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Schaerf, a member of Trump’s legal team who is also running for Missouri attorney general, appeared on ABC’s “This Week” and said he would for now abide by the pre-sentence investigation ahead of his appeal of his 34-count conviction in a trial in which Trump was accused of falsifying business records to conceal payments to porn star Stormy Daniels to influence the 2016 election.
The lawyers argued with ABC host George Stephanopoulos about the motive for the crime itself, pointing out that prosecutor Matthew Colangelo was standing directly over Blagg’s shoulder as the Manhattan district attorney announced the guilty verdict during a press conference Thursday.
“I strongly disagree that the New York district attorney was not politically motivated, and I strongly disagree that President Biden and his political allies were not deeply involved in this prosecution. The Biden campaign…” Schaaf said, before Stephanopoulos interjected.
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg holds a press conference following the conviction of former President Trump in New York City on May 30, 2024. Standing behind Bragg to the right is Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo. (Spencer Pratt/Getty Images)
“There’s no evidence of that here, your honor, there’s — there’s no — I won’t let you say that any more. There’s no evidence of that at all,” Stephanopoulos argued.
“Well, what about the fact that Matthew Colangelo was standing over Alvin Bragg’s shoulder when he announced this sentence,” Schaaf said. “I mean, Colangelo was the No. 3 official in the Biden Justice Department, and then he just disappeared and popped up as an assistant district attorney right after Trump’s case started to get underway in New York. If you want to talk politics…”
“After that decision is made,” the host interjected, but Scharf continued.
“George, if you want to talk about political alignment, it’s right in front of you,” the lawyer said.
“This has nothing to do with anything. This has nothing to do with anything. No, it has nothing to do with anything. This has nothing to do with President Biden. Do you want to answer a question about the sentencing process?” Stephanopoulos said.
“I completely disagree that this has nothing to do with President Biden,” Schaaf said. “As for sentencing, as I’ve said before, we intend to vigorously challenge this case on appeal, and I don’t believe President Trump will ultimately receive any sentence. We look forward to taking this case to the next court, and if necessary all the way to the United States Supreme Court, to defend President Trump’s rights.”
Schaaf considered the hush money case a “zombie case” that had been sitting around in New York for years and could have been filed at any time after 2020. “Then all of a sudden, President Trump announced his candidacy for president, this case was brought back up, rushed before a grand jury, rushed to court,” Schaaf said at the start of the interview. “If you’re talking about politicizing the justice system, this is Exhibit A. This is completely unprecedented in American history. This is not how our elections should be. In this country, elections are fought at the ballot box, not in the courts.”
Former President Trump speaks to the media with his lawyer Todd Blanche after his hush money trial in New York, Thursday, May 30, 2024. (Pool Photo by Michael M. Santiago/via Associated Press)
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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, on Friday insisted that Bragg and Colangelo appear at a June hearing on the “weaponization of the federal government” and the “unprecedented political prosecution” of Trump. As president, Biden should have no authority over New York courts, but Republicans have argued that Biden led the prosecution of a political opponent in an election year.
Trump’s legal team had repeatedly called on Judge Juan M. Marchan to resign, citing potential conflicts of interest because he had donated to Biden’s campaign and because his daughter had raised funds in the hush-money case as president of Authentic Campaigns, a group that represents Democratic politicians and political action committees.
In appealing, Schaaf said Trump’s legal team would again challenge Marchan’s refusal to dismiss the case on appeal despite “clear due process violations,” and would also challenge the jury instructions themselves.
Judge Juan Marchan refuses to recuse himself from President Trump’s hush money trial. (Getty Images)
“If you look at the instructions to the jury, I think Judge Marchan essentially steered the jury towards the verdict that he clearly wanted, although I wouldn’t say he rigged the verdict,” he said.
“Throughout the course of this trial, I think some of the evidentiary decisions that Judge Marchan has made have been, frankly, astonishing,” Schaaf continued. “He did not allow Brad Smith to testify as he wanted. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on federal election law. He severely limited the scope of questioning of Robert Costello, who I believe had absolutely incriminating information on the prosecution’s case. I think that with decision after decision, Judge Marchan has deviated from normal court procedure, normal court practice, and has basically created a climate disadvantage for President Trump.”
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Stephanopoulos suggested Trump’s criticism of Marchan and Bragg could complicate the sentencing process, but Schaaf argued that Trump was well within his rights to speak out, especially after the judge’s gag order.
“I think it’s incredibly important that President Trump is running for president of the United States, and he has an absolute constitutional right to comment on matters of public importance, and unfortunately this trial, which I believe has been unfairly inserted into a presidential election cycle, is a matter of great public importance,” Schaaf said. “The weaponization of the justice system, the politicization of prosecutors, these are all things that President Trump absolutely must comment on. The fact that he languished under a gag order for so long, I think was patently unjust.”
