ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos clashed with former President Trump’s lawyer Will Scharf in a Sunday interview over the former president’s baseless claims that President Biden played a role in bringing the lawsuit criminal silence against Trump in New York.
In an interview on “This Week,” Scharf repeatedly echoed the former president’s claims, arguing that the hush money criminal trial — which ended with a guilty conviction against Trump on 34 felony counts — was “exhibit A” in terms of “ politicization of the legal system”.
“It’s absolutely unprecedented in American history. This is not how our campaigns should be run. We fight elections at the ballot box, not in the courts of this country,” Scharf continued.
Stephanopoulos conceded Scharf’s argument about winning the election at the polls, but made clear that there was no evidence to suggest any federal Justice Department involvement in the New York state criminal trial that had just concluded.
“That’s true. But, of course, we’ve never had a former president or presidential candidate face the kind of charges that the president faced due to his own activities. And, of course, the Manhattan district attorney has nothing to do with the Department of Justice,” Stephanopoulos said.
As Stephanopoulos tried to get back to his point about the sentencing process, Scharf pressed on, refusing to concede his point about the accusation being politically motivated. Stephanopoulos finally interrupted.
“I strongly disagree that the New York District Attorney is not politically motivated here,” Scharf said, “and I strongly disagree that President Biden and his political allies are not involved in this process.”
Stephanopoulos interjected, saying: “There is no evidence of that here. Sir… I won’t let you keep saying that. There is no evidence of that.”
“Do you want to answer the question about the sentencing process or not?” Stephanopoulos added, after some back and forth.
Scharf pointed to the case’s prosecutor, Matthew Colangelo, “standing before [District Attorney] Alvin Bragg’s shoulder when announcing this verdict” as proof of political interference, remembering that he worked at the Department of Justice, before the interview ended.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
