CNN Chief Legal Analyst: 'Don't prosecute Donald Trump. What he did was not a crime'

Greg P. | 11:29 AM on August 17, 2021

CNN Chief Legal Analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, writes in his new column that Attorney General Merrick Garland should not prosecute former President Donald Trump and that “what he did was not a crime”:

AG Garland: Don't prosecute Donald Trump. What he did was not a crime. My @CNN column.https://t.co/RSXqjjo9Am

— Jeffrey Toobin (@JeffreyToobin) August 16, 2021

And he says there’s no reason to even open a criminal investigation:

To which I’d respond: not so fast. It’s one thing to describe the former president’s behavior as disgraceful and wrong – and I’d share that view – but quite another to argue that Trump should be criminally prosecuted. Based on the available evidence, there is no basis to prosecute Trump and little reason even to open a criminal investigation.

Yes, this is the same guy who was caught on a Zoom videoconference with his colleagues at the New Yorker allegedly pleasuring himself:

This is almost as embarrassing as… you know, what never mind. https://t.co/HZvz150g26

— Franklin Leonard (@franklinleonard) August 17, 2021

This is what happens when you give a platform to a wanker. https://t.co/X65I2CtKCA

— Dodes (@racheld) August 17, 2021

Dear @CNN REALLY?!!! This is a man who has ZERO self-control sexually–affairs with young women while married (he has a love-child) and then masturbation on work calls–for all to see. This is despicable. Good grief. #JeffreyToobin https://t.co/Dt00c2hc5E

— Sophia A. Nelson (@IAmSophiaNelson) August 17, 2021

If @JeffreyToobin’s embarrassingly weak argument for sparing Trump from criminal investigation and possible prosecution is the best available — and it may well be — then AG Garland should be pursuing the former president and without hesitation right now. https://t.co/7EQK7KMjHV

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) August 17, 2021

Could not disagree more. This assumes intent cannot be proven if someone lies about his own. No other criminals get that kind of pass. Trump shouldn’t, either. There’s more than enough predication to investigate and a substantial federal interest in protecting election integrity.

— Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) August 17, 2021

YES. when else do we get a recorded phone call (Georgia) and contemporaneous notes (DOJ)?! It's a prosecutor's dream to get such evidence?

— Jennifer 'pro-voting' Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 17, 2021

Boy, we bet CNN is sure glad they put him back on the air now.

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