REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
- Trump's attorney blasted the Manhattan DA's office during an ABC News interview on Sunday.
- Jim Trusty called the former president's indictment a "rancid ham sandwich."
- Trump is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment.
Jim Trusty, one of Trump's attorneys, blasted the Manhattan District Attorney's office and criticized the criminal indictment against the former president during a Sunday interview on ABC's "This Week."
"We should not have a criminal justice system that starts off with targeting people," Trusty told host Jon Karl. "If you do you end up coming up with threadbare charges like this."
He continued, "It is an absurd situation that multiple prosecutors passed by this rancid ham sandwich of an indictment."
Trump, who stands as the first ex-US president to be criminally charged, is facing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment that was sent to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 in exchange for her silence about their alleged affair.
—This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 9, 2023
Trump was arraigned in New York City last week, which prompted local law enforcement agencies to close down streets to brace for protests. Former prosecutors previously told Insider that the case against Trump, who pleaded not guilty, appears to be excessive as the indictment failed to mention his underlying crimes.
The former president and his defense team have argued that he is being targeted, in what Trump calls a "WITCH HUNT." Trump called out DA Alvin Bragg telling him to "indict himself" under the belief that details has been leaked to the press a day before his court appearance.
After Trump repeatedly lashed out at Bragg since he learned of the indictment, the DA's office was met with an array of death threats and "racially charged" rhetoric.
Former Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance — Bragg's immediate predecessor — noted in an NPR interview earlier this month that the hush money case originated in his office (around 2018), but was asked by federal prosecutors to "stand down" at the time as they had their own ongoing probe.
"I think it's public record that we commenced the investigation at around the same time as the Southern District of New York did. I was asked — we were asked by the Southern District of New York to stand down," Vance, who served as Manhattan DA from 2010-2021, told the outlet.
"We did stand down for probably over a year. And then it got to the point where Michael Cohen was indicted and pleaded guilty, and then it stopped. So that was one reason why we didn't move forward at the beginning."
Vance, who did not seek reelection as DA in 2021, noted that "the only person who really knows why he made the decision is Alvin Bragg."
On "This Week," Trusty said that the team has "a lot of confidence" as the Trump case unfolds.
"But the long run, the historic run, this a bad moment and we got to do what we can to let the people know that this is a different criminal justice system if we go down this road," he continued.