Trump Lawyer Slams Guilty Verdict, Vows To Appeal: ‘Constitutional Rights Were Violated’

Todd Blanche, an attorney representing former President Donald Trump in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s unprecedented “hush money” case, framed the verdict as a dark day for America during an appearance on Fox News.

“Do you believe that Donald Trump’s constitutional rights were violated?” asked Fox News host Jesse Watters.

Blanche quickly agreed that they have been, pointing to Judge Juan Merchan’s gag order. The Manhattan judge prevented Trump from bringing attention to the judge’s numerous connections to Democrat operatives and causes, including the fact that his daughter is a prominent Democrat political consultant who works with some of the most high-profile party members, including the Biden-Harris campaign.

“That affects not only President Trump, that affects every voter, whether they’re going to vote for President Trump or against President Trump. That affects every single voter in this country because they don’t get to hear from the candidate,” Blanche said. “We very much disagree with that order. We appealed that as well. 

“There was a lot about what happened over the past year that, you know, I sit here tonight, the verdict just came down today, but really there’s a lot that’s happened over the past year that I think that Americans should look very hard at,” the Trump attorney continued.

“Just that the whole way this case was charged. The district attorney says that this type of case is a bread and butter, that they do these cases all the time. That is not true It’s just not true,” Blanche said, referencing the fact that Bragg’s office downgraded more than 50 percent of felony charges against defendants to misdemeanors. In the case of former President Trump, Bragg employed a novel legal theory to charge Trump with 34 felony crimes in connection with a case that was declined by both the Department of Justice and the FEC.

“This is a case that the records of President Trump’s personal records, his personal checkbook from 2017 — from 2017, is what he was on trial for. That does not happen all the time. That doesn’t happen all the time in Manhattan. That doesn’t happen all the time in any jurisdiction in this country,” Blanche told Fox News.

“And that’s fine. That’s fine if you want to indict somebody and go after somebody for conduct that happened in 2017. But I think where it becomes problematic for me as a lawyer, is don’t look me in the eye and say, ‘this is bread and butter. We do this all the time. That we’re treating President Trump like we treat anybody else. like we treat anybody else.’ That’s not true.”

Trump was convicted on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after a Manhattan jury deliberated for less than 9 hours. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of four years.

Judge Merchan has scheduled sentencing for July 11, just days before Trump is set to receive the presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention.