Legal analyst Glenn Kirschner has said that former President Donald Trump's social media posts targeting Alvin Bragg violate federal as well as state laws.
Bragg, Manhattan's district attorney, is leading the investigation of a $130,000 "hush money" payment made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has already pleaded guilty to his role in the scheme and served prison time, though Trump has denied having an affair with Daniels, while dismissing the legitimacy of Bragg's probe.
Since reports began to indicate that Bragg may be nearing a historic criminal indictment against Trump, the former president has ramped up attacks against Bragg on his social media platform, Truth Social. Across various posts, Trump called Bragg a "Soros-funded animal" and threatened that there would be "death & destruction" should he be charged. He also shared a picture of himself holding a baseball bat next to another photo of Bragg, as if to suggest an attack, which he later deleted.
Kirschner, veteran federal prosecutor now known for his prolific appearances as a legal analyst, argued on Sunday during an episode of his Justice Matters YouTube series that Trump's posts, especially the one with the photo, were an attempt to intimidate the district attorney and constituted a violation of a New York state law. Specifically, he cited Section 195.05, "obstructing governmental administration in the second degree."
"Friends, when the grand jurors reconvene on Monday, they should receive additional evidence from prosecutors of Donald Trump's 'death and destruction' threats, in violation of Section 195.05," he argued.
Following up on that video, Kirschner said in a Monday Justice Matters video that Trump's posts also violate federal law surrounding interstate communications, 18 U.S. Code Section 875. As he explained, this law pertains to the transmission of "interstate or foreign commerce, any communication containing any threat to kidnap any person or any threat to injure the person," and is punishable by a fine or "not more than five years or both."
"Now, posting something on the internet equals transmitting it in interstate commerce," Kirshner argued. "And this picture depicting you taking a bat to your prosecutor equals a threat to another and Donald Trump should be prosecuted both locally in New York and federally, because justice matters."
The Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice (DOJ) have not indicated that they intend to pursue further investigations into Trump's recent social media posts. The DOJ is currently probing Trump's actions surrounding the January 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol and his handling of classified documents retrieved from his Florida home in Mar-a-Lago after his presidency. Newsweek has reached out to the DOJ press office via email for comment.
In a prior statement to Newsweek, Trump's communications team dismissed Kirschner's standing as a credible legal analyst.
"Glenn is a notorious trafficker of wild conspiracy theories and dubious legal analysis," the statement read. "I would expect nothing more from a clout-chasing MSNBC contributor who has been shunned by the legal community at large."
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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