A prominent attorney said the courtroom environment in New York is not led by law but by an “anything goes” attitude to punishing former President Donald Trump. Jordan Sekulow said business people will see how the courts have treated Mr. Trump and wonder if they will be safe in the future. He declared that if politicians “feel like you shouldn’t have gotten that loan,” the state can penalize and punish the parties. Mr. Sekulow noted that none of the banks who did business with Trump ever complained about him, but the state stepped in and punished him regardless.
Commenting on Mr. Trump’s legal battle in Fulton County, Georgia, Sekulow added that District Attorney Fani Willis may have “messed up” and could be removed from the case. “It is crumbling,” he said. Willis is accused of improperly hiring Nathan Wade, with whom she was romantically involved, to work on the Donald Trump prosecution and paying him more than $650,000, which funded vacations for the pair. She denies any wrongdoing and said the relationship only began after she had hired Wade – a claim denied by a friend who testified that the relationship had been ongoing for years.
In the latest Georgia election interference scandal, it has been revealed that the judge overseeing the case against Trump once donated to Willis’s campaign fund. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee gave $150 to Willis in 2020 while he was employed at the Justice Department. Legal analyst Philip Holloway said the judge’s failure to disclose this could lead to conflict-of-interest accusations.
In New York, Attorney General Letitia James publicly celebrated a fine handed down to Donald Trump by Judge Arthur Engoron, who has ordered the former President to pay $355, with interest accruing at more than $87,000 per day. James has been counting up the mounting fine on her Twitter account, prompting accusations of unprofessionalism and likely giving weight to Trump’s claim that she is pursuing him for political reasons.
