Jeffrey Lichtman, a distinguished criminal defense attorney known for representing prominent clients in some of the most dramatic cases in American history, has criticized Attorney General Alvin Bragg’s strategy for looking into the former president Donald Trump. A rising number of people are coming out on Trump’s side to cast doubt on the validity of the case as the likelihood of his being indicted increases. Notwithstanding his personal dislike for Trump, Lichtman, like many legal professionals, disputes the case’s validity due to its shaky legal grounds.
“This case is a joke, frankly, and I’ve litigated against that office for 33 years. I don’t think that case is winnable,” said Lichtman. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán, a former head of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico, and John A. Gotti, the son of notorious Gambino crime family chief John J. Gotti, were two of Lichtman’s well-known clients. In situations involving organized crime, financial fraud, and drug trafficking, Lichtman has also defended clients.
JUST IN: Trump 24K Golden Dollars – Available Now!
“I loathe Trump for a variety of reasons, but it’s still America, and we still have to be concerned about cases brought against people that we don’t like, because the next day it’s going to be cases against people we do like,” Lichtman said. “Sometimes unpopular people get screwed unfairly by the system just because people don’t like them.”
Randy Zelin, a professor at Cornell Law School with 32 years of experience as a criminal defense lawyer, was also interviewed by Rolling Stone. Zelin, who opposes Trump and his ideas, said his conviction that the felony prosecution is unlikely to hold given the material at hand: “I do not believe, based upon what we know, that the felony charge will stick.”
He went on, “What you need to do to elevate the misdemeanor falsification of business records to a felony simply is this — [show] that the act of falsifying the business records was done in furtherance of another felony, another crime, that’s it.”
“I think that the district attorney’s office in New York County is running a great risk of diluting the strength of other potential cases brought by other prosecutors, because this is a weak case — legally, it is a weak case.”
Zelin concluded, “Practically, it is really more or less a victimless crime, unless you believe that the election was truly influenced by the fact that people didn’t know about the hush-money payments, and with all of the stuff that he has said, does anyone really believe that if it got out that he paid Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, that it would have changed the election? Probably not.”
Famous defense lawyer Peter Brill, a pillar of the New York legal community, has openly shared his opinions on President Trump’s conduct. Brill, a well-known critic of the current administration, holds a similar opinion to many other dissidents.
“I think that the basis for the felony, linking it to campaign-finance declarations … it’s a strange way to get to an indictment, especially in a falsifying-business-records situation that’s often charged as a misdemeanor,” Brill explained. “On the one hand, the facts seem fairly damning, but the foundation that they’re built on is weaker than I would hope for in the first criminal indictment or criminal charge [against] Trump.”
“Michael Cohen has significant credibility issues, not only because of his underlying criminal conviction but because of his outright contempt for his former boss that he parades out to the press whenever he has the opportunity, and I think there’s a tremendous amount of bias that can be explored there.”
Cohen was described by Lichtman as someone “who might be the only person in New York who’s a bigger liar than Trump.”
