Alvin Bragg Already Has a Plan to Block an Appeal of a Trump Conviction

This piece was originally published on Just Security, an online forum for analysis of U.S. national security law and policy. Rejecting that argument, prosecutors described Giuliani’s statements as “admissible non-hearsay” because the former mayor, as the then-president’s lawyer, was his “agent.” Trump’s legal team even consented to the admission of Giuliani’s statements in their failed effort to transfer the state case to federal court, prosecutors noted. Brian Buckmire, a longtime public defender and practicing trial attorney, believed Trump’s attorneys had a “solid argument” to exclude Giuliani’s statements, and it was one that he would make in their position. “I don’t believe it’s so cut and dry that Giuliani was acting as Trump’s agent when he made those statements.” For Buckmire, the question of whether to show jurors Giuliani’s interviews went to trial strategy as much as the law, especially if prosecutors “found similar statements made by Trump that fit their definition of what’s admissible.” Indeed, Trump’s attorneys fought the admission of “nearly 100 statements” attributed to the former president, including excerpts from his books like The Art of the Deal, Trump: Think Like a Billionaire, and Think Big—Make It Happen in Business and Life. “The jury can then assess that claim and determine how much weight the statements deserve.” Though Giuliani’s half-decade-old Hannity interview may have caused a legal and public relations headache for Trump in 2018, it will likely barely register as a footnote to the former president’s criminal trial.