Former prosecutor pours cold water on latest claim from Trump's Georgia lawyer
Donald Trump's lawyer claiming the former president can't be tried criminally if he retakes the White House is "contrary to the American notion of justice," a former federal prosecutor said on Saturday.
Joyce Vance appeared on MSNBC's Yasmin Vossoughian Reports, where she was asked about comments made by one of Trump's attorneys. The lawyer was quoted warning about the "notion of the Republican nominee for president" might be kept from campaigning for the presidency because he is in court defending himself.
"That would be the most effective election interference in history of the United States," the lawyer said in a clip played by the host.
"So, then it went one step further, Joyce, and they said oh, by the way, if he wins reelection he cannot be tried until he is out of office. Is there any possibility here the judge in the Fulton County case could actually be receptive to this?" the host asked.
"So the judge in Fulton County plays his cards remarkably close to his vest. He's always amiable towards all of the lawyers, always hears them out, and often simply looks at them when they're done and says thank you," Vance replied. "He doesn't really give us much indication of which way he's leaning, but he's a former federal prosecutor. He understands how these issues work."
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Vance then added that, "he's very capable judge even though there were some early criticisms about him being relatively new to the state court bench."
"I think he's outlived that sort of criticism," she said. "Steve Sadow, on the other hand, has been doing this for a while. We tried a couple of criminal cases against each other, and he's a canny lawyer. He knows how to present the arguments he has to on his clients' behalf to the court."
However, this time, Vance said, "I don't think he gets his way here."
"This notion that Donald Trump can't ever be tried, but on the one hand, he can't be tried if he's the nominee, and on the other hand, he can't be tried if he's the president it really doesn't fly, it's contrary to the American notion of justice."