During a court hearing in New York on Thursday, a lawyer representing Donald Trump argued that the former president is “entitled to immunity” and told the judge that Trump is part of a “protected class” because of his Republican ideology.
As the hearing progressed, Trump attorneys threw a hail-mary, trying to convince state Supreme Court Judge Arthur F. Engoron that members of the Trump family could not be subpoenaed in connection with the New York Attorney General investigation into their company’s alleged financial fraud.
Trump’s criminal defense lawyer, Ronald Fischetti said that “If she wants sworn testimony from my client, he’s entitled to immunity. He gets immunity for what he says, or he says nothing,” ABC News reported.
Then, attorney Alina Habba told the judge that Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an improper investigation into Trump because she does not like him.
“She has such disdain for this person because he was president, because he is Donald Trump and he could probably win again in ’24,” Habba said in comments highlighted by Raw Story. “He has First Amendment rights. He’s allowed to be a Republican.” She then demanded to know if James is going to “go after” Hillary Clinton, citing claims that the former president was “spied” on.
“He’s a protected class,” Habba said.
“Ah!” the judge reacted. “What protected class is he a member of?”
“His political speech,” Habba replied, accordion to Raw Story. “If he was not sitting as a Republican and was not a former president who might run again, this would not be happening. So she is discriminating against him for that.”
The judge’s clerk stopped Habba to point out that the term “protected class” is usually reserved for race, religion and sex discrimination.
“The traditional protected classes are race, religion, etc.,” Engoron agreed. “Donald Trump doesn’t fit that model. He’s not being discriminated against based on race, is he? Or religion, is he? He’s not a protected class. If Ms. James has a thing against him, OK, that’s not in my understanding unlawful discrimination. He’s just a bad guy she should go after as the chief law enforcement officer of the state.”
Read the original post in The Raw Story.
