There have only been four days of testimony In Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial but Georgia lawyer Phil Holloway just knows the whole thing is so unfair!
On Friday, a discussion that was more like a panel of Trump defense lawyers talked about the fourth day of Trump’s hush money/election interference criminal trial in New York City. There was, of course, Jonathan Turley. He was joined by former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Tom Dupree and former Assistant District Attorney Phil Holloway.
You can watch the entire 16-minute discussion below but I want to focus on one argument made by Holloway: his claim that Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing Trump’s criminal trial in New York, should recuse himself.
Of course, it was all one big effort to delegitimize the Trump prosecution, smear the jury and pre-discredit any guilty verdict, even though no one in the public, including Holloway, has seen all the evidence, much less the not-yet-existent jury deliberations.
HOLLOWAY: This has all been, I think, window dressing so far. I've not seen anything that points to a scintilla of a crime here. Ordinarily, I would say if this were a typical trial where you had a fair judge and you had a fair and unbiased jury and a fair jury pool to pull that jury from, I would say that the trial would be collapsing under its own weight because the prosecutor seems to be just having this trial looking for some crime.
But so far, they've not laid a hand on Donald Trump in terms of proving any criminal activity and I don't think that they can. …
This judge has gone out of his way, in my opinion, to prove every step of the way that he cannot be fair to the defendant. All defendants, regardless of who you are, no matter if you're Donald Trump or anybody else, you're entitled to a fair judge, and there is not one in this case.
He's indicated that he should be recused. He should've sent that motion to recuse to another judge, but because he graded his own paper so to speak, that proves that he's biased and he needs to be gone. I don't know why he's not, but he needs to be.
As NBC News reported, New York lawyers who actually know Judge Merchan have given him rave reviews: The attorney for former Trump Org. CFO Allen Weisselberg, Nicholas Gravante Jr. said Merchan "treated us with the utmost respect both in open court and behind closed doors" and described him as "practical, efficient" and "well prepared." Defense attorney and former New York judge Barry Kamins said Merchan "is well-known, even in difficult cases, to exhibit excellent temperament, integrity, and a solid knowledge of the law." Defense attorney Ron Kuby called Merchan a "serious jurist, smart, and even tempered" and "a no nonsense judge."
Trump has been whining about Judge Merchan since before the trial started. So it's not a surprise that a Fox News guest would do his part for the MAGA cause.
You can watch Holloway look like he’s auditioning for a Fox News contributor’s contract or maybe to have Trump as a client below, from the April 26, 2024 Your World.
He’s mostly known for his hatred of the Fulton County DA, and his breathless recounting of every single potential setback for that prosecution. He has openly cheerled attempts to have the DA removed or disbarred at every possible opportunity. When those attempts resulted in a two month delay and the bizarre spectacle of the hearings, Holloway played every moment as presaging doom for the DA and supposed victory for Little Trump.
The posturing by both Holloway and Turley has been to downplay the possibility of any prosecution of Little Trump happening at all, so it’s natural that they would both be defensive about the fact that the New York trial has made it past their blockades. It’s natural to them that they would attack the judge – since Little Trump has been doing so as a signal to all of his fans to wave that spark into a fire.
When Little Trump is convicted of his felony crimes, we can count on Holloway and Turley to try to discount that too. Holloway in particular is consistent in playing this entire situation (ie Little Trump having committed felonies and now attempting to avoid accountability) as one of “Heads, Little Trump wins, and Tails, Little Trump wins.”
Which is probably appropriate for a fan of Little Trump as Holloway is. These guys never could admit that Little Trump is actually the loser of the 2020 Election, or that his frantic attempts to avoid admitting being a loser has only deepened his problems.