Complaining that Judge Juan Merchan did not allow the “reliance on counsel (advice of counsel)” defense, criminal defendant and former President Donald Trump raged against what he characterized as a “kangaroo court.”
Trump, who has made a habit of trying to disembowel the charges against him in four separate criminal cases — as well as numerous civil fraud trials and defamation trials — routinely calls any proceeding against him a “witch hunt.”
Trump’s early morning post on the day of closing arguments in his Manhattan criminal trial was no exception, as Trump hit all his familiar “witch hunt” notes — including calling the judge “corrupt and conflicted” and asserting the cases are all part of a nefarious plot being orchestrated against him by Democrats. “Biden pushed” is how he describes this particular case this morning.
But Trump, who will soon begin awaiting his legal fate as it passes into the hands of a 12-person jury, added something slightly different to his latest post. Though he makes the same false claim he has been making about “all legal scholars and experts” agreeing the case should have never been brought, he appeals to an even higher authority for his justice as he signs off, writing: “IN GOD WE TRUST!”
NOTE: The advice of counsel defense Trump refers to is broadly described below by the Bradley law firm: as “A formal advice of counsel defense requires the defendant show that he: 1) made a complete and honest disclosure to his counsel concerning the matter at issue; 2) sought advice regarding the legality of his conduct; 3) received advice that the conduct was legal; and 4) relied on that advice in good faith.”