'I've got tears in my eyes': Judge blows up claim that Trump can't get jail time
A fracas over whether or not Donald Trump will be punished with prison or spared got heated between a retired New York judge and a white shoe defense attorney.
Retired Queens County Supreme Court Judge George Grasso debated with attorney Arthur Aidala, who represents such clients as convicted Hollywood studio head Harvey Weinstein, over the appropriate punishment that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should seek and ultimately New York Judge Juan Merchan impose on 77-year-old convicted Trump.
"If Alvin Bragg dares to ask for jail time after on the first day of him being in office, he put out a memo about how soft he was on crime," Aidala said.
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Indeed, when Bragg took over the office he put out a 2022 memo harping on Manhattan sending too many people to prison or "over-incarcerated" despite having a "higher crime rate."
So he sought softer alternatives beyond prison such as instituting a "use of diversion and evidenced-based programs in lieu of incarceration."
"Alvin Bragg said 'I want you to find alternatives to incarcerations on robbery on this, on this and now on this you're gonna send an old man--"
He was cut off by Grasso.
"I got tears in my eyes," he told Aidala. "I got to collect my thoughts."
"I think stealing an election... 34 felony counts involving a crime constituting a conspiracy to use unlawful means to impact an election; 34 felonies."
He talked about how close the swing state voting tally was back in 2016 and how the moves to insulate him from the alleged philandering with porn star Stormy Daniels whom he had Michael Cohen pay off $130,000 to buy her silence — could have affected the outcome.
He also brought up Trump's longtime confidante and former senior aide Hope Hicks.
"We know the testimony of Hope Hicks, who felt so bad about her testimony, she spontaneously broke down crying," he said.
Hicks testified that four days before the Nov. 8, 2016 election date, that a Wall Street Journal story was expected to publish details of Daniels' story.
"He wanted to make sure that there was a denial of any kind of relationship," Hicks, who was campaign press secretary at the time, said in court.
She soon broke down in tears.