Georgetown Law professor Jonathan Turley believes what many supporters of former President Donald Trump believe which is that it is not likely he can get a fair trial in New York City.

Manhattan, where the case is being tried, voted for President Joe Biden by more than 80 percent in the 2020 presidential election and the professor thinks that the jury could be unfair as some of the jurors may have an ax to grind.

“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 real law, real precedent, and one can disagree with the interpretations. But it’s not a reach in the sense of this case,” he said.

“This case is creating something—it’s creating a criminal code just for Trump. You know, you have a misdemeanor whose time has expired, the statute of limitations ran out, and it was revived in this rather curious way. He’s effectively arguing that Trump was filing false business records through his counsel to hide a federal crime. But it isn’t a federal crime; this wasn’t a campaign contribution,” he said.

“None of that appears to matter. And that’s why a lot of us are looking at this and recoiling. This is not how the law is supposed to be. New Yorkers appear to like it this way. They elected James, who ran on bagging Trump for anything, didn’t even mention what. And they now are lionizing this district attorney for putting together what many consider to be an absurd indictment,” the professor said.

“The problem is that courts don’t feel comfortable asking who did you vote for, and so they are working around the edges to try to show bias. The most important thing here is to try to isolate the worst of the jurors; those are jurors who just desperately want to be on this jury; many people will want to be and are prepared to lie to do so,” he said.

“What the defense counsel has is not their veracity on these forms but their names. Even though we won’t see them, defense counsel can look at social media and see if they are lying,” the professor said.

“What is troubling is that in a couple of past Trump cases, they found out after the conviction or after the trial that jurors had lied about their past political involvements. The judges refuse to toss out the verdict,” he said. “So you have to try to stick that landing up front to show that bias. Also, keep in mind you only get ten strikes as a defense counsel, but you can have unlimited strikes for bias. As you bring forth evidence of bias, it is a freebie where you can try to remove some of these jurors.”

WATCH:

Jonathan Turley on why Trump's Manhattan trial WON'T be fair: "The most important thing here is to try to isolate the worst of the jurors, those are jurors who just desperately want to be on this jury, many people will want to be and are prepared to lie to do so." pic.twitter.com/NbkRac8GaX

— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) April 15, 2024