Former Trump adviser Kash Patel claimed that the judge in the president-elect’s hush money case doesn’t have the “wherewithal” to undo the conviction.
New York County Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan will soon decide whether Trump’s 34 felony counts of falsifying business records will stand after the U.S. Supreme Court granted him presidential immunity for his actions while president. Patel, who is floated as one of Trump’s attorney general picks, was not confident that Merchan would abide by the highest court’s ruling.
“Now, I was there during President Trump’s trial, and I watched this judge adjudicate matters unconstitutionally on an hourly basis. So, I’m not sure he has the wherewithal to do what’s necessary under the law and forbid and stop politicization and weaponization of justice,” Patel said. “So what he may do is issue a sentence and hold it in abeyance to at least allow president to appeal his sentence based upon the appellate issues that have been created under the law here.”
Patel estimated that an appeal could take anywhere between three to five years because it would have to go through the state court process before moving on to the federal court process.
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Trump’s conviction came amid allegations that he paid hush money in 2018 to multiple women who claim they had an affair with him. Jurors heard from a list of witnesses, including former Trump attorney Michael Cohen and pornography film star Stormy Daniels. According to Daniels, she is among the women who received hush money payments from the former president.
Merchan, a former Biden donor, had scheduled to sentence Trump on Nov. 26. Now, on Nov. 19, he will decide whether the Supreme Court’s landmark presidential immunity ruling means Trump’s guilty verdict is untenable.
