Fox News host Jesse Watters claimed Manhattan District Alvin Bragg is endangering Donald Trump’s life by charging him with crimes, thus requiring the former president to be in court on dates and at times known to the public.
Trump was arraigned in New York on Tuesday on 34 counts of falsifying business records deriving from three hush money payments he made to cover up affairs with two women with whom he had affairs. The former president paid the women and a doorman for their silence. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Conservatives have slammed the prosecution as a political witch hunt.
Watters blasted the charges on Tuesday’s edition of The Five and questioned the amount of resources being spent on prosecuting Trump.
“He’s spending, how many millions of dollars on this circus?” Watters asked. “He’s shutting down the FDR Drive. He’s hiring how many police officers? How much manpower is going into the D.A.’s office on this case alone? Meanwhile, you’ve got a crime wave out here and he has the nerve to come out and say he doesn’t want to normalize crime. Come on, man!”
Watters noted that much of the case rests on the testimony of Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, who arranged the payments and later went to prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, tax evasion, and perjury. He also noted that one of the women – Stormy Daniels – owes Trump legal fees stemming from a failed defamation lawsuit against him brought by her former attorney Michael Avenatti, who is now disbarred and in federal prison.
“So, this is the crux of the case that you’re building,” he said.
Watters then claimed prosecuting Trump means putting his life at risk:
And I’ve got to tell you. You’re putting Donald Trump’s life in danger. You’re setting him up and advertising to the entire world, “The former president of the United States, the Republican nominee [sic, Trump is currently a candidate] for the presidency, is gonna be at this location, at this time, on this date.”And you’ve got towers, and you’ve got windows. You think that’s good for this country? To put a man like that in a certain location Dec 4? And then, what if it goes to trial? He has to be there every day. You think the Secret Service wants that? That is dangerous. And he is playing a dangerous game.
