Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and current CNN legal analyst, criticized the case against Donald Trump brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Honig worked alongside Bragg and called the case an “ill-conceived, unjustified mess.”
He argued the charges of falsifying business records were unprecedented, obscure, and seemingly crafted specifically for Trump.
This article by Elie Honig, the CNN legal commentator who followed every twist and turn of the Trump Trial, and formerly worked with Alvin Bragg in the Manhattan DA's office, is totally devastating as to the due process violations of this prosecution — particularly this stunner: pic.twitter.com/PPsuLQMIlD
— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) May 31, 2024
Honig noted issues like the judge donating to anti-Trump groups, no past cases charging federal election laws as state crimes, and the charges pushing legal boundaries.
“Here, prosecutors got their man, for now at least — but they also contorted the law in an unprecedented manner in their quest to snare their prey,” Honig wrote.
“The judge donated money — a tiny amount, $35, but in plain violation of a rule prohibiting New York judges from making political donations of any kind — to a pro-Biden, anti-Trump political operation, including funds that the judge earmarked for ‘resisting the Republican Party and Donald Trump’s radical right-wing legacy.’ Would folks have been just fine with the judge staying on the case if he had donated a couple bucks to ‘Re-elect Donald Trump, MAGA forever!’? Absolutely not.”
While the jury convicted Trump, Honig believes the case pushes the limits of law and due process.
He argues the prosecution cobbled together charges to target Trump in a manner that may undermine the office that brought it.
“The charges against Trump are obscure, and nearly entirely unprecedented. In fact, no state prosecutor — in New York, or Wyoming, or anywhere — has ever charged federal election laws as a direct or predicate state crime, against anyone, for anything. None. Ever. Even putting aside the specifics of election law, the Manhattan DA itself almost never brings any case in which falsification of business records is the only charge,” Honig wrote.
“The charges against Trump aren’t just unusual. They’re bespoke, seemingly crafted individually for the former president and nobody else,” Honig wrote.
“Most importantly, the DA’s charges against Trump push the outer boundaries of the law and due process. That’s not on the jury. That’s on the prosecutors who chose to bring the case and the judge who let it play out as it did.”
