ABC This Week host George Stephanopoulos, ever the Clinton operative, attempted to engage Trump defense attorney Will Scharf with an array of Democrat talking points. At no point during this interview did it go well for him.
Watch Scharf shoot Stephanopoulos down on the issue of judicial recusal, as he goes for cheap Thomas/Alito whataboutism on judicial recusal:
WILL SCHARF: This is a prosecution that should have never been brought. This was a case tried in front of a judge who clearly should have recused. I think we have a lot of fair complaints with the way that this trial was conducted, and I think ultimately President Trump will be vindicated on appeal.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: The ethics panel for the state of New York said the judge was not required to recuse.
SCHARF: Well, I think when you look at binding Supreme Court precedent, including most notably the seminal case on judicial recusal, Caperton v. Massey, even the appearance of impropriety can require a judge to recuse for reasons of due process. Here, I think we have far more than an appearance of impropriety. The fact that Judge Merchán contributed to Joe Biden during the 2020 election, many of the other issues that we’ve raised in our recusal papers throughout this case. I think Judge Merchán should have clearly recused and I think that’s going to be an issue that the appellate courts are gonna have to deal with.
STEPHANOPOULOS: If appearance of impropriety is the standard for recusal, then why shouldn’t Justice Thomas and Justice Alito have to recuse from the cases before the Supreme Court?
SCHARF: I think the appearance of impropriety there is not nearly as severe. I think you’re not talking about financial conflicts of interest. You’re certainly not talking about a judge who’s violated judicial code of conduct in terms of political contributions. I think that’s frankly stunning. Speaking as a former attorney, former law clerk, I’ve never heard of a judge contributing to political candidates before. I’ve certainly never heard of a judge sitting in judgment over the opponent of the political candidate he contributed to.
Stephanopoulos’ attempt at a cheap tu quoque on the recusal point proves that the trial has always been about politics rather than about the law. The same can be said for media coverage, especially on the most aggressively pro-Biden broadcast network news division, and especially on the Sunday show hosted by the Clinton White House’s most notorious attack dog. “Hurr Durr What About Thomas and Alito” is nonresponsive and even dismissive to the merits of Scharf’s arguments on Merchán’s non-recusal as one of several factual bases for an appeal of the guilty verdict against former President Donald Trump.
The entire interview transpired in this manner.
On the issue of the weaponization of the justice system against opponents of the party in power, Stephanopoulos tried to whatabout Scharf with the old 2016 “lock her up” chants against Hillary Clinton, and got promptly schooled:
ABC’s @GStephanopoulos: “You talked abt the weaponization of the legal system. Of course, it was former President Trump, who throughout the 2016 campaign led chants of ‘Lock her up’ about Hillary Clinton.” Schooled by Trump lawyer @WillScharf: He “didn’t weaponize DOJ.” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/2MpoqzWqru
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) June 2, 2024
After getting schooled on weaponization of government, Stephanopoulos trotted the jurisdictional talking point- that there was zero coordination between the Biden DoJ and New York County District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office. Scharf obliterated by pointing out the glaring link between Biden’s DoJ and the prosecution of Donald Trump: former DoJ #3 Matthew Colangelo.
Rude and condescending. @GStephanopoulos to Trump lawyer @WillScharf: “Sir, I’m not going to let you continue to say that, there’s just zero evidence of that…This has nothing to do with Biden. Do you want to answer the question about the sentencing process or not?” #ThisWeek pic.twitter.com/6qNikWFVyc
— Brent Baker 🇺🇦 🇮🇱 (@BrentHBaker) June 2, 2024
What we can learn from this interview, aside from Stephanopoulos’ usual condescension, is that the Regime Media will firmly fall in line in defending this verdict, damage to our institutions be damned.