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The author of a book about how to prosecute the ex-president blames the judge and media for following the Willis affair distraction, and asks, who is paying all of Trump’s attorneys?
For the past few days, I have had the opportunity to talk with Tristan Snell, the author of the new book Taking Down Trump: 12 Rules for Prosecuting Donald Trump by Someone Who Did It Successfully. Snell was assistant attorney general for New York State, where he successfully helped lead the investigation and settlement of the civil case against Trump University that resulted in a $25 million payout to students who said they were duped.
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If anyone knows how former President Donald Trump operates, it would be Snell, and to say that he’s slightly miffed about the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis misconduct trial taking place would be an understatement.
“It’s ridiculous,” Snell said during a phone call after the first day of testimony ended. “ I think the whole thing is a textbook Trump dirty tricks smear. It's meant to intimidate and bully DA Wilis and make her look bad in front of the residents of Fulton County from which the jury will be drawn. They are trying to dirty up that jury pool.”
Snell said the attack on Willis reminds him of one the big cases against John Gotti, when he and his team of lawyers went after one of the prosecutors. “They went after a female federal prosecutor from the Southern District of New York, and they went completely berserk on her for all sorts of things in her personal life during the trial. And unfortunately, the judge just let it happen.”
While Snell says that Wilis will survive this “unnecessary distraction” there are other questions that need to be answered, including why the judge called for a trial.
“This is a Fulton County HR issue, not something for the courtroom. They're making a mockery out of justice. It’s an absolute travesty that this hearing is being held, and that it’s nationally televised. He’s allowed the courtroom to be turned into a kangaroo court for the benefit of Trump and his legal team.”
And that leads to the next question that Snell brought up, who is paying for Trump’s legal team on this case?
“Maybe I'm wrong, but I’m at least raising the question. This is a whole lot of extra work. Where's the money coming from? From one of Trump’s PACs or some other fund that's associated with Trump? And I don't think anyone's actually asked that question. Where are the investigative journalists looking into where the money is coming from?”
Like the Biden document special counsel, and the media’s obsession with Biden’s age instead of him being cleared, Snell sees the media following the sensationalism of a trial that shouldn't be happening in the first place.
“The mainstream media fell for it. I kept on saying it on the air today. We shouldn't be talking about this. This is a diversion. It's a delay. It's a counterattack. It's a smear. What she did do or didn't do in her private life? It's nobody's business. It has nothing to do with any of the merits of the case.”
He added that if there’s a commentator's equivalent of malpractice, the misconduct by journalists fits.
“They are going on television right now, going in print right now, and saying that there's all these problems and that thereby the prosecution is in jeopardy. It's just fallacious. There's no merit to that whatsoever.”
Snell said that Willis and her team have clearly gathered a mountain of evidence in the election fraud case, and that this trial shouldn’t be taking the spotlight away from the real crime. “The case speaks for itself. We've already seen all of these witnesses flip. They flipped because they were presented with cold hard evidence that showed that they were about to go to prison if they didn't flip.”
“That’s why Jenna Ellis, Ken Cheseboro, and Sidney Powell flipped. These are lawyers who know the difference between a real case and a phony one. They were shown evidence by the prosecutor's office and made the determination and cold hard calculation that it was better for them to abandon Trump than go to prison.”
Snell said that once the dog and pony show of the Willis misconduct case is done, attention should shift to the real defendants. “The fact that the Atlantic case is now slated for August has to do with the size of the case, and not because of this side-show with Willis. The case has dozens and dozens of counts and 19 defendants. It just stands to reason that it will move more slowly. More because of logistical and administrative issues than having anything to do with Willis.”
At its core, what Trump and his team of lawyers are doing, according to Snell, is trying to with a very valid and meritorious criminal prosecution.
“I think that Wilis survives this, and charges forward. I would advise her to just keep quiet, and say as little as possible going forward, so that she doesn’t give Trump’s team the opportunity to attack. That’s what we did when we went after him for Trump University. I think she does have the toughness to see this through till the end.”
