OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News host Sean Hannity exposed a significant constitutional flaw with Judge Juan Merchan’s instructions to the jury in former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, which the U.S. Supreme Court addressed near the end of his term.
“A novel criminal charge and a novel approach to jury instruction,” Hannity said to begin a segment of his Wednesday evening show. “So according to Judge Merchan, the jury, they don’t need to reach a unanimous decision on that phantom election allocation the prosecution was never even able to really describe.
“An unspecified federal election crime that was never charged or tried anywhere ever in America. Apparently, Judge Merchan believes he’s above the law and was perfectly willing to trample on our Constitution at will. We know from the 2020 Supreme Court ruling, Judge Merchan, you may want to pay close attention; somebody will tell you about this; it’s called Ramos versus Louisiana. I’m sure you’ve heard of it; you are ignoring it, but you’ve heard of it. Let me quote it for you,” Hannity continued.
“‘There can be no question either that the Sixth Amendment unanimity requirement applies to state and federal criminal trials equally, and the law does not stop there,'” he said, adding that the unanimity requirement is addressed in the Sixth and Seventh Amendments. “That would be our Constitution, judge. In criminal cases, this requirement of unanimity extends to all issues, character, or degree of the crime, guilt, and punishment, which are left to the jury.
“Again, ‘in criminal cases, this requirement of unanimity extends to all issues,'” Hannity continued. “I will repeat all issues. There is no carveout for Biden-donating judges like Judge Merchan, who hates Donald Trump. Here’s another violation of Trump’s civil liberties carried out by judge merchan and the prosecution. According to Cornell law, the Sixth Amendment of our Constitution grants all Americans ‘the right to know who your accusers are, the nature of the charges and evidence against you.’ So what is the election crime Trump is being accused of, and who is making the allegation?”
WATCH:
According to Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett on Friday, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg “obstructed justice” in the criminal hush money case against former President Donald Trump.
The case wrapped up on Tuesday after defense attorneys and Bragg’s prosecutors made their closing arguments. Merchan gave the jury final instructions on Wednesday morning before they adjourned to deliberate.
During an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity on Friday, Jarrett, a former defense attorney, called it a “sham case” and explained how he believes Bragg’s actions amount to obstruction, alleging that “Alvin Bragg and Judge [Juan] Merchan worked in tandem as co-prosecutors.”
Jarrett told Fox News’ Jason Chaffetz, who was filling in for Hannity, that the “DA obstructed justice, concealed exculpatory evidence to the grand jury, manufactured this laughable indictment, and then suborned perjury at the trial—they knew Cohen would lie, they wanted him to lie.”
The prosecution’s case relies heavily on their key witness, Michael Cohen, a disbarred lawyer who previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion, bank fraud, campaign finance violations, and lying to Congress. Criminal defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Rocco Cipparone noted Cohen’s credibility issues, describing him as having a “lot of admitted and unadmitted baggage” in an interview with Newsweek on Saturday.
“This is a performance trial, not a real trial,” Jarrett told Chaffetz.
Trump had more harsh words for Merchan ahead of closing arguments in the case.
“The reason the Radical, highly Conflicted Judge Juan Merchan had to come up with three FAKE options for the jury to choose from, without requiring them to be unanimous, which is completely UNAMERICAN AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL, is because the Corrupt, Soros backed D.A., Alvin Bragg, couldn’t come close to proving that any crime was committed. THERE WAS NO CRIME,” he noted on his Truth Social platform.