Alvin Bragg's prosecution of Donald Trump has been derailed by the testimony of the state's own witnesses, according to legal expert Jonathan Turley.
In a column for The Hill, Turley said the prosecution's witnesses have "contradicted the basis for the prosecution."
Trump has been charged with trying to hide "hush money" payments to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual encounter with Trump, something Trump denies.
Bragg's prosecutors say the "hush money" was part of a criminal scheme to interfere in the 2016 election, but Trump's lawyers have said he had personal reasons unrelated to campaigning, like protecting his family from embarrassment.
Turley noted the star witness, Michael Cohen, is a "disbarred serial perjurer."
Turley dismissed the testimony of other witnesses as tangential or even beneficial to Trump.
Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker "said that he killed stories for various celebrities for years, and that he did so for Trump for over a decade before he ran for office," Turley wrote.
Daniels' former lawyer Keith Davidson said he did not think of the payment as "hush money," Turley wrote.
Former Trump aide Hope Hicks gave the defense a boost with her comments about Trump's concern for his family, Turley noted.
"I don't think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that happened on the campaign," she told Trump lawyer Emil Bove. "He wanted them to be proud of him."
The witnesses have also been disparaging toward Cohen, Turley observed.
Hicks quipped that Cohen called himself "Mr. Fix It" but only because he caused the problems he was claiming to fix.
Cohen, now bitter rivals with Trump, was incarcerated for three years in federal prison after he pled guilty to crimes including lying to Congress.
Cohen is a key part of the case against Trump because he arranged the $130,000 payment to Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump.
"So Cohen will now make the pitch to the jury that they should put his former client in jail for following his own legal advice," Turley wrote.
"This would be difficult even for a competent and ethical lawyer. For Cohen, it is utter insanity," Turley added.
