Q. How do you know that Alvin Bragg could have a steep hill to climb in his prosecution of Donald Trump?
A. When an MSNBC analyst, the former lead prosecutor of Robert Mueller's Russia-Russia-Russia investigation of Trump, a man the New York Times has hailed as a "pitbull," and "relentless," goes on the show of perhaps the most virulently anti-Trump liberal media host, and admits, even after seeing the indictment, that he can't figure out Bragg's theory of the case.
Ruh-roh!
And so it was that the relentless pitbull in question, Andrew Weissmann, appeared on Trump-hater-par-excellence Nicolle Wallace's Deadline White House on Tuesday afternoon, after Trump had been arraigned and the indictment released.
Three separate times, Weissmann admitted his inability to see how Bragg justified bumping up misdemeanors into 34 felonies. Excerpts:
- "These are 34 felony counts, which is kind of remarkable . . . It's a little unclear how they got there, to be, to be fair."
- "It's unclear exactly what the theory is as to how they got to the felonies."
- "When you read the statement of facts and the indictment, you're left a little bit to wonder what precisely is the, is the crime that leads to the sort of bump up? Why is it a felony?"
Weissmann's doubts about the case should have sent a chill up Wallace's Trump-despising spine. But so all-consuming is Wallace's loathing of the former president that she couldn't contain strange-to-the-point-of-bizarre manic laughter [see video clip and screencap] over Trump's alleged involvement in the hush-money "scheme.'
Viewers may have wondered why Nicolle was so tickled as Weissman professed his confusion over the contents of this indictment.
On Nicolle Wallace's MSNBC show, Andrew Weissmann, the former lead prosecutor in the Mueller investigation, repeatedly saying that he can't understand the theory by which Alvin Bragg bumped misdemeanors up to felonies in his prosecution of Donald Trump was sponsored in part by AstraZeneca, maker of Breztri, and Hughesnet.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Deadline White House
4/4/23
4:03 pm EDTANDREW WEISSMANN: These are 34 felony counts, which is kind of remarkable. As far as I can seem there are 12 general ledger charges, 11 checks that form charges, and 11 invoices.
It's a little unclear how they got there, to be, to be fair if you -- you know, it's not required when you plead something, you can actually just plead the actual language of the indictment. This does go further than that, because there's an indictment, and that has sort of stripped down, just pleading what the charges are. But then there is a lengthy statement of facts.
But it's unclear exactly what the theory is as to how they got to the felonies.
. . .
As John [Heilemann] and I were talking about, when you read the statement of facts and the indictment, you're left a little bit to wonder what precisely is the, is the crime that leads to the sort of bump-up? Why is it a felony?
. . .
NICOLLE WALLACE: Andrew, Donald Trump on tape, directing Michael Cohen. I think the quote is, go back to Allen's office and figure it out. Would that be admitted?
WEISSMANN: Oh yeah. That's what's called --
WALLACE: [Bursts into laughter] I didn't know anything about it I'm not --
SUSANNE CRAIG: He could say, I don't know, I'm not --
WALLACE: He says, he says, can't you pay cash? I mean, he's involved in the, he's involved in the. they call it a scheme.
WEISSMAN: It's really hard to say.
WALLACE: [hysterical laughter] Do it in 20s and 10s, hah, hah, hah, hah.
