CBS correspondent Erin Moriarty challenged former Independent Counsel Robert Ray after he said Donald Trump should not be forced to face trial before the 2024 presidential because he is a candidate.
During a segment on CBS Sunday Morning about Trump’s legal problems, Moriarty sat down with Ray for his perspective.
“Are you saying that former leaders should never, when they’re running for re-election, ever be held accountable for alleged crimes?” Moriarty said before the interview concluded.
“No, but I’m saying that the unusual circumstance that we find ourselves in is that we’ve got four pending indictments in an election cycle,” Ray replied. “That is a result that I think most people would agree is undesirable.”
“But Bob, he gets to bring in his evidence, he gets to cross-examine witnesses, and he could be acquitted, and that would help him in an election year,” the reporter pressed.
Ray, however, suggested Trump should never stand trial in the current venues.
“I think there are questions about whether or not Donald Trump can get a fair trial in the District of Columbia as there are whether or not he can get a fair trial in Manhattan, given the potential juries,” he said.
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court decided to take up Trump’s claim that he has absolute immunity from prosecution for alleged crimes he committed while president.
“In fact, by taking up the immunity question and keeping the case on hold in the meantime, the justices have all but guaranteed that Trump cannot stand trial on the federal election charges until the waning weeks of campaign season, at the earliest,” Politico noted Wednesday.
Trump’s legal battles span various issues, from his handling of classified documents after leaving office to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election loss, payments made to silence claims of extramarital affairs, and even investigations in Georgia related to the election in the state.
These cases have sparked intense debate across the nation, with Trump’s supporters seeing it as a political witch hunt, while his critics arguing it’s about holding power accountable.
