NEW YORK — Donald Trump Jr. joined an entourage of his father’s supporters outside the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse on Tuesday, calling the former president’s hush money trial the “Bolshevik trials” and blasting the media.
“Well, guys, I had to come down and witness the Bolshevik trials for myself. What’s going on here is an absolute farce,” Trump Jr. said, referencing the Soviet-era show trials.
Tuesday was Trump Jr.’s first appearance at his father’s trial, which has lasted for five weeks and is on pace to end next week with closing arguments and jury deliberations. His attendance came on a momentous day, as Trump’s defense team had rested its case minutes prior to Trump Jr. speaking.
The former president’s eldest son lamented that the defense could not call upon its preferred experts to defend Trump. Judge Juan Merchan had limited former Federal Election Commission chief Bradley Smith, a known potential witness in the case, to speaking only in general terms about election law. The decision resulted in defense attorneys opting not to use him.
“The only problem is the witnesses who are experts in these things aren’t allowed to actually testify to that because you have a rigged system,” Trump Jr. said.
Trump’s son was flanked by former acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, numerous Republican members of Congress, and Bill White, a longtime New York businessman who became politically active in Atlanta in recent years.
The others took turns delivering remarks, and several of them echoed Trump Jr.’s complaint that the media industry was largely biased against his father.
“If this was going on right now in a third-world banana republic, there would be people screaming about it,” Trump Jr. said. “You people, the media, would be outraged. Instead, because I presume you’re fine with whatever the results are as long as it’s against Donald Trump, your silence is deafening, and it’s disgusting.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, an elected Democrat, has charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records, alleging Trump unlawfully concealed a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors argued that Trump conspired with Michael Cohen to issue the funds ahead of the 2016 election with the intent to influence the race, but they did not charge the former president with any election-related crimes. Cohen pleaded guilty to several crimes in 2018, including a campaign finance violation for paying Daniels.
However, the Justice Department chose not to charge Trump in relation to the payment.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges, called to dismiss his case, and has regularly slammed it as a “witch hunt” before and after attending court proceedings.
A jury could deliver a verdict in the case as early as the middle of next week.