OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A new survey has found that a majority of respondents don’t believe former President Donald Trump will get a fair shake in his hush money trial, which began in Manhattan.
Just 4-in-10 of those surveyed by Rasmussen Reports think Trump’s treatment in the trial will be fair, Newsmax reported, noting that 51 percent of those polled believe that.
Among that majority, 31 percent said a fair trial is “not at all likely.”
On Monday, opening statements began in the historic trial, marking the first criminal proceedings against a former U.S. president. Trump stands accused of falsifying business records to silence an adult film actress regarding an alleged affair before the 2016 election.
Rasmussen asked voters, “How likely is it that Trump will be able to get a fair trial in New York City?”
Just 42 percent say it’s likely Trump will be able to get a fair trial, and that included only 27 percent saying it’s very likely, according to the Rasmussen results.
Trump sounded off about his trial taking place in New York City on Monday over “hush money” he allegedly directed his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, to make to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
“This is a Biden witch hunt to keep me off the campaign trail,” Trump said. “I should be in Georgia now. I should be in Florida now. I should be in a lot of different places right now, campaigning. And I’m sitting here. This will go on for a long time. It’s very unfair.”
“I did nothing wrong,” Trump repeated.
“They take this payment, and they call it a legal expense. You heard it today for the first time. This is what I got indicted over. This is what took me off and takes me on the campaign trail. Because I should be in Georgia and now. I should be in Florida now. I should be in a lot of different places right now, campaigning. And I’m sitting here. This will go on for a long time. It’s very unfair. The judge is conflicted, as you know. It’s very unfair what’s going on. I should be allowed to campaign,” Trump said.
“Whoever heard of this? To get indicted for that. People in the court said I can’t believe it. This is the case. We did nothing wrong. The other thing is, if this is such a great case, why didn’t the southern district bring it, who looked at it? Why didn’t numerous other agencies and law enforcement groups look at it? Because it was shown to everybody,” Trump added.
He declared: “Very importantly, why didn’t the federal elections do anything about it? This is federal. It’s not state. They are trying to make it a state case. It’s not state. It’s never happened before, I believed, never happened before. This has never happened before. With a state trying to insert itself in federal elections. Nobody has ever seen it. Federal elections took a total pass on it. They said essentially, nothing was done wrong, or they would have done something about it. They’re tough. They would have done something about it. They said nothing, and they said they’re gonna take a pass — because they couldn’t even believe it. If you read their letter, they couldn’t even believe it. They were incredulous.”
“And yet, Bragg makes it out. With Bragg, if you look, when he first came in, he didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want to do it. Look at Pomerantz and what he did. That is bad stuff. When are they gonna look at all the lies that Cohen did in the last trial? Heb got caught lying in the last trial. He was caught lying. pure lies. And when are they gonna look at that?” he asked rhetorically.