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With the closing arguments set for Tuesday in the trial of former president Donald Trump, defense counsel are in a rather curious position. There is still debate among legal experts as to the specific crime that District Attorney Alvin Bragg is alleging. Trump’s lawyers are defending a former president who is charged under a state misdemeanor which died years ago under the statute of limitations. It was then zapped back into life in the form of roughly three dozen felonies by claiming that bookkeeping violations — allegedly hiding payments to Stormy Daniels to ensure her silence about a supposed affair...

Now, first, before we get this legal deep dive going, let’s be clear. We haven’t seen Professor Turley call for jury nullification—not even by a proverbial wink. What we are saying is that what he is documenting is enough for us to say if this author was on the jury, we would engage in jury nullification. Why? In order to vindicate Trump’s constitutional rights. Mr. Turley published a thread that started with this post: The Hill is out with my column on the closing arguments scheduled for next week in the Trump trial. A hung jury seems the most likely...

Below is my column on Fox.com on the closure of the government and defense cases in the Trump trial. It is clear that the government is going to achieve its objective in avoiding a direct verdict and giving this matter to the jury, which it hopes that the paucity of direct evidence of a crime will be overcome with an abundance of hostility to Donald Trump. As I previously have written, I am still hopeful that these jurors will vindicate the New York legal system with at least a hung jury. In the end, we will see if a Manhattan...

Jury members in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial are being "treated like chumps," says legal analyst Jonathan Turley. He also believes star prosecution witness Michael Cohen suffered a "dramatic implosion" on Thursday. Turley, who is a frequent Fox commentator and professor at George Washington University Law School, expresses extreme doubt in a blog that the prosecution has any basis for conviction and poses the question of whether the jury "is realizing that they are being played by the prosecution." He also says: "With the dramatic implosion of Michael Cohen on the stand on Thursday with the exposure of another...

Yesterday, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) had a much covered interaction with CNN’s Manu Raju who asked him about Trump’s criminal trial and whether he was guilty of the underlying criminal conduct. Romney responded “I think everybody has made their own assessment of President Trump’s character, and so far as I know you don’t pay someone $130,000 not to have sex with you.” I have previously defended Romney in his votes on impeachment despite our disagreement on the constitutional standard. I also understand that he was making a more general comment on character.However, his response is precisely what Manhattan District Attorney...

On Monday, conservative attorney, legal scholar, and commentator Jonathan Turley weighed in on the day's testimony by Michael Cohen in the ongoing New York trial of former President Donald Trump. Mr. Turley's comments about Cohen were, to say the least, sharply pointed.Michael Cohen apparently wants a reality show but, if his testimony Monday is any indication, reality is about to sink in for not just Cohen but the prosecutors and the court.In stoking interest in his own appearance, the former Trump counsel promised the public that they should be “prepared to be surprised.” Thus far, however, Cohen has offered nothing...

While pundits, politicians and the press have long expressed outrage over attacks on judges by former President Donald Trump, many are now attacking any judge who delays any trial of Trump before the election. Democrats have accused Judge Aileen Cannon of being politically compromised, if not conspiratorial, in her delay of the Florida trial over the mishandling of classified documents. Yet, there is ample reason for the delay that many of us anticipated in this type of case when it was filed.For months, many of us have said that we doubt that this type of trial could be held on...

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley appeared on FOX News on Monday and explained why Trump is not likely to get a fair trial in New York. The trial has entered the jury selection phase and this is key, according to Turley. He suggests that even if the court tries to find jurors who don’t dislike Trump, that Trump haters will lie just to get on the jury. The people who are going after Trump know this. In fact, they’re probably counting on it. Transcript via Real Clear Politics:

Fox News legal analyst and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley believes that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is wading into uncharted territory. During an interview on Fox News, Turley spoke about jury selection for Bragg’s case beginning Monday, which involves allegations of a “hush money” scheme and cover-up. Turley called Bragg’s case against Trump “legally absurd.”

Fox News legal analyst Jonathan Turley said Monday on Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom” that former President Donald Trump’s New York trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to payments to porn star Stormy Daniel is “absurd.” Host Dana Perino said, “Jonathan, you wrote about Cicero saying ‘the more laws, the less justice,’ and that you seem the same here. How so?” Turley said, “Well, the more cases against Trump, the less justice we receive as a people. You know, the opponents of Trump would have been far better off with just one case, the Mar-a-Lago case. That’s based on...

Minnesota has remained close with Biden leading by three four and now two points, all nearly a statistical tie. Many pundits and pollsters have assumed that Minnesota is a safe Democratic state in 2024...this poll indicates that is not the case.

Below is my column in the New York Post on the recent rebuke of the Justice Department by a federal judge in a hearing on the refusal to comply with House subpoenas in the Biden corruption investigation. The Justice Department appears little concerned over the glaring disconnect in how it treats its own attorneys as opposed to other citizens — a pattern that we have discussed previously. Here is the column: “Are you kidding me?” Those are four words that no lawyer wants to hear from a judge in a hearing. But that was not the least of it for...

James filed judgments against Trump and others in Westchester County, New York, where Trump owns a private estate in Seven Springs and the Trump National Golf Club Westchester, Friday. Turley said that James could find seizing the properties much more difficult than she thought“These properties are partnerships, they have leveraged debt. All of that has to be unraveled,” Turley told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow. “So these aren’t just this, you know, one to one Trump versus James type of equation. So in order to seize that property, she’s going to be pulled into court, there’s going to be challenges....

Free speech advocates around the world railed against a new Canadian law that could demand a life sentence for adults who violate speech laws on social media. Introduced last month, the Online Harms Act, or Bill C-63, would empower judges to imprison adults for life if they post views supportive of genocide. The bill would increase the maximum penalty for advocating genocide from five years to life imprisonment and from two years to five years, on indictment, for the willful promotion of hatred. Advocates of the bill say it will make online platforms safer. However, critics called the law "totalitarian"...

Calling it “one on a huge list of priorities,” Rep. Jamie Raskin (D., Md.) announced that he will be reintroducing a prior bill with Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Eric Swalwell to disqualify not just Trump but a large number of Republicans from taking office. The alternative, it appears, is unthinkable: allowing the public to choose their next president and representatives in Congress. It appears that the last thing Democrats want is for the unanimous decision to actually lead to an outbreak of democracy. Where the Court expressly warned of “chaos” in elections, Raskin and others appear eager to be...

Below is my column in The Hill on the $355 million verdict against Trump and his corporation in New York. The damages in my view are excessive and absurd after the court acknowledged that no one lost a dime in these exchanges. Indeed, the “victims” wanted to do more business with Trump and made handsome profits. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has rushed to assure businesses that there is “nothing to worry about” after the corporate public execution of Trump and his company. The assumption seems to be that you have nothing to fear from confiscatory actions unless you are...

As we reported earlier, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against former President Donald Trump in his appeal on presidential immunity from prosecution. The three-judge panel affirmed the ruling of the District Court in the matter. The appeal delayed the start of the election interference case that had been set for March 4. Now, it should be noted that even though the ruling went against Trump, just the filing of it bought him some time, as George Washington law professor Jonathan Turley explained.“The most practical impact of this appeal was indeed the delay that...

George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Monday that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis chose “the worst possible tack” when responding to a subpoena in her alleged lover’s divorce case. Willis sought to have the subpoena declared invalid in a Thursday court filing, claiming that Jocelyn Wade, the estranged wife of Nathan Wade, Willis’ alleged lover, was trying to “harass and embarrass” the Fulton County DA. Turley said that Willis and Nathan Wade were “undermining” their case. ... The damage is already done for Willis, and in many ways she’s really magnifying that damage with her moves,” Turley...

There is a full-scale war of intimidation being waged by the far-left, and it has targeted yet another prominent figure on the right. Legal analyst Jonathan Turley was swatted on Friday according to Alan Henney, who reports on various crimes and police responses around Washington, D.C. That follows the swatting of three Republican lawmakers since Christmas. Specifically, Sen. Rick Scott, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Rep. Brandon Williams all reported incidents. Jonathan Turley then spoke out against the trend, noting that a lack of prosecutions is leading to an increased number of swatting calls because there is no deterrent.

Below is my column in The Messenger on the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the 2024 election. There are now over a dozen states considering similar demands from advocates to prevent voters from being able to vote for the current leading candidate for the presidency. In California, Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis publicly called upon the Secretary of State to “explore every legal option” to follow the same path as Colorado. It is a temptation that is irresistible for Democratic politicians in a race to the bottom of our rage politics. Here is the column: he...