Former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano told Newsmax Monday that if the government loses its four cases against former President Donald Trump, he won’t be able to retaliate by taking legal action against the prosecutors or judges involved.
"The government has written laws and the Supreme Court has upheld them and some of them the government didn't even write the laws," Napolitano said during an appearance on Newsmax’s "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE." "The court just came up with these things on its own, because it was the common law that prosecutors are immune from liability for the cases that they bring, as long as they had a good-faith basis, and a grand jury indictment shows a good-faith basis. Judges are immune from liability. There will be no one for Trump to sue."
"Now, if this case is tried in March, federal law requires that he be in the courtroom for every single proceeding, from the beginning of the jury selection to the time the verdict comes down," he continued. "He will be taken away from the campaign trail for more than a month – I know you don't want to hear this, but you people have to know this – at the most critical time in that campaign. In the middle of that trial, that March trial, is Super Tuesday, with the most critical primaries being held on one day while he's sitting in a courtroom."
Napolitano was referring to special counsel Jack Smith’s 2020 election interference case against the former president – currently the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination – which is set for March 4. On Monday, Smith asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether Trump can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results.
While a federal judge has ruled the case could proceed, Trump has signaled he would petition the Washington, D.C., federal appeals court to reverse that ruling. Smith is attempting to bypass the appeals court in an effort to keep the trial on track and prevent any delays that could push it out past next November’s election.
The former judge also said that Trump made the right call in declining to testify for a second time in his $250 million New York civil fraud trial on Monday.
"Why not? Don't give the government a chance to see you cross examined," Napolitano said. "Don't give them that opportunity, number one. Number two, he has already testified in the case. Remember, the government did the very weird thing and called Donald Trump, the principal defendant, as one of the government's witnesses. You can't do that in a criminal case, but you can do it in a civil case."
"So, his version is already out there," he continued. "The rest of his version, why they chose the numbers that they chose for the valuation of the buildings, has been amply supported by expert witnesses, professors and real estate and banking experts who have testified in Trump's behalf. So, there's no loss by failing to testify. There's only gain."
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Nicole Wells ✉
Nicole Wells, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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