As Raw Story explained weeks ago, Donald Trump's lawyers gave up their right to a jury trial in the fraud case in New York.
An NBC News report outlined how long the judge anticipated the trial to last, which was expected to be three months. Buried in the report was the revelation that Trump's lawyers scored a "bench trial." It means the Trump team messed up, and missed their opportunity for a jury trial.
Early on Wednesday morning, Trump's rage began with rants and elaborate claims.
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"I have a Deranged, Trump Hating Judge, who RAILROADED this FAKE CASE through a NYS Court at a speed never seen before, refusing to let it go to the Commercial Division, where it belongs, denying me everything, No Trial, No Jury. He made up this crazy 'KILL TRUMP' decision, assigning insanely low values to properties, despite overwhelming evidence..."
He didn't mention that the reason there is no jury is that his own team did not request one.
Now Trump is alleging the judge is a "political hack judge."
"I have had very unfair judges since entering politics, but nobody has been as unhinged as this guy," Trump claims.
"Donald Trump's lawyers screwed up again," trial lawyer Michael Popok said when talking about the development. "His then-lawyer Alina Habba screwed up the procedures in New York, didn't file the appropriate paper on time, and therefore, Donald Trump was properly denied a jury trial."
In all of Trump's cases, he has elected to have a jury, Raw Story previously explained. Legal analysts have observed that in the transcripts released from the special purpose grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, there was almost always one person who voted against the indictment while the rest of the panel did.
"With respect to Trump, an overwhelming majority of the grand jurors recommended that the district attorney seek indictments against him for a litany of offenses related to the call," wrote Lawfare's Anna Bower. "Elsewhere in the report, the jurors also recommend charges against Trump in connection to separate communications with Georgia officials and other efforts to overturn the 2020 election. For each of the charges recommended for Trump, one juror—though perhaps not the same juror—voted against the charges."
