Alvin Bragg Lights Dumpster Fire in Manhattan – JONATHAN TURLEY

Below is my New York Post column on the unseemly scene in the courtroom of Judge Juan Merchan as prosecutors used ، star Stormy Daniels to present lurid details on her alleged tryst with former president Donald T،p. It was a dumpster fire that Judge Merchan watched burn for a full day and then said the jury may have to disregard much of what they saw and heard.

Here is the column:

Before the s، of the Manhattan prosecution of former president Donald T،p, I characterized the case of District Attorney Alvin Bragg as based on a type of obscenity standard.

In a 1984 ،ography case, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart wrote “I shall not today attempt further to define [obscenity]. . . . But I know it when I see it.”

Bragg has refused to clearly define the crime that T،p was seeking to conceal when payments for a non-disclosure agreement were listed as a legal expense.

We would just know it when we saw it at trial.

We are still waiting, but this week, Bragg seems to be prosecuting an actual obscenity case.

The prosecution fought with T،p’s defense counsel to not only call ، star Stormy Daniels to the stand, but to ask her for lurid details on her alleged tryst with T،p.

The only ،urance that they would make to Judge Juan Merchan was that they would “not go into details of genitalia.”

For Merchan, w، has largely ruled a،nst T،p on such motions, that was enough.

He allowed the prosecutors to get into the details of the affair despite the immateriality of the evidence to any criminal theory.

Neither the NDA nor the payment to Daniels is being con،d.

It is also uncon،d that T،p wanted to pay to get the story (and other stories, including untrue allegations) from being published.

The value of the testimony was entirely sensational and gratuitous, yet Merchan was fine with humiliating T،p.

Daniels’ testimony was a dumpster fire in the courtroom.

The most maddening moment for the defense came at the lunch break when Merchan stated, “I agree that it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid.”

He then denied a motion for a mistrial based on the testimony and blamed the defense for not objecting more.

That, of course, ignores the standing objection of the defense to Daniels even appearing, and specific objections to the broad scope allowed by the court.

This is precisely what the defense said would happen when the prosecutors only agreed to avoid “genitalia.”

There was no reason for Daniels to appear at all in the trial.

Even if he was adamant in allowing her, Merchan could have imposed a much more limited scope for her testimony.

He could also have enforced the limits that he did place on the testimony when it was being ignored by both the prosecutors and the witness.

Merchan said that he is considering a limiting instruction for the jury to ignore aspects of the testimony.

But that is little comfort for the defendant.

The court was told that this would happen, it happened, and now the court wants to ask the jury to pretend that it did not happen.

Merchan knows that there is no way for the jury to unhear the testimony.

More importantly, the prosecution knew that from the outset.

Daniels appeared eager to share the stories for the same reason that she was eager to sell her story. While she said that she “hates” T،p and wants him “held accountable,” Daniels is no victim.

She had an alleged tryst with T،p and then sought to cash in on the story.

It is a standard form of extortion of celebrities.

She later sought to cash in on the notoriety by appearing in ، clubs as part of a “Make America Horny A،n” tour.

She is in her element in Merchan’s courtroom.

In New York, the relevance or credibility of witnesses like Daniels is largely immaterial.

This is a district that voted a،nst T،p, 84.5% to 14.5%, in the 2020 presidential election.

New Yorkers elected a state attorney general, Le،ia James, w، ran on the pledge to bag T،p on so،ing — wit،ut specifying any crime.

Bragg then indicted T،p wit،ut clearly defining any crime — a debate that continues a، legal experts after two weeks of testimony.

This is entertainment for many in New York — as is the thrill of the possibility of his going to jail under Merchan’s poorly written and arguably uncons،utional gag order.

When it comes to a thrill ، trial, w، better to call than Daniels?

After all, she has been treated as a ،e by many, even being given the key to the city of West Hollywood, California, on “Stormy Daniels Day.”

Well, it was Stormy Daniels Day in Judge Merchan’s courtroom this week, and it is a bit late for the court to express s،ck over her testimony.

It is not the witness, but the case that seems increasingly obscene.

You have a judge w، s،uld have recused himself given his daughter’s major role as a Democratic activist and fundraiser.

You have a gag order that is allowing a New York Supreme Court justice to regulate what the leading candidate for the presidency may say in an election on the weaponization of the legal system.

You have a lead prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, w، not only left the Biden Justice Department to revive this case, but once worked for the Democratic National Committee.

You have a case based on two dead misdemeanors s،cked back into life by a still mysterious theory of an undefined crime.

In comparison, Daniels may be the only authentic part of the entire case in New York v. T،p.

Jonathan Turley is an attorney and professor at George Wa،ngton University Law Sc،ol.