Republican Missouri Attorney General candidate and Trump attorney Will Scharf stated Monday that District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against former President Donald Trump isn’t “wrapping up anytime soon,” revealing the presumptive GOP presidential nominee may be off the campaign trail longer than expected.
Scharf appeared on “The Vince Coglianese Show” to discuss Trump’s ongoing trial in New York as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records to pay porn star Stormy Daniels. (RELATED: Alvin Bragg’s Team Finally Produced Docs At Center Of Case Against Trump — There Was Just One Catch)
Coglianese asked the Trump attorney for a “sense” of the timeline for the trial as Trump indicated Monday that Bragg’s team is suggesting it may be extended for “another two to three weeks.”
“Yeah, that was towards the end of court today,” Scharf stated. “After the jury was out Judge Merchan asked the lawyers for an estimate on how much time is left. That was the prosecution’s estimate. It’s worth noting, there are a couple of days where courts will be off in the next couple of weeks. But two to three weeks, I think is in line with what we were expecting here — two to three weeks more. They have a lot more witnesses to get through.”
“Then we’ll see what evidence we need to put up in terms of witness testimony documents, etc,” he continued. “That’ll depend on, I guess, the perceived strength of the prosecution’s case. Tight now we perceive the strength of the prosecution’s case as being very, very weak. So that could affect the timing as well. But I think we’re all hoping to get President Trump out of court and back on the campaign trail as quickly as possible.”
Coglianese asked Scharf about the extended timeline and pointed out that only the timeline for the prosecution’s case has been speculated on thus far and that the defense’s time hasn’t been taken into consideration yet.
“That’s correct. [The] defense case and then closing arguments. Then, you know, after the jury is charged, which can be a complicated process, they’ve got to go and decide this mess. So we’re in for the — you know, this is not wrapping up anytime soon. We’re in for a little way here,” Scharf stated.
“So just finally, on this time issue, that suggests to me that this is looking more like at least four weeks more of trial,” Coglianese pressed.
“That could very well be the case,” Scharf confirmed.
While Trump has been tied up in the blue state and relegated to making campaign trips on weekends, the former president has still made rounds in New York. Last week after court the former president stopped by to visit the firefighters of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY), bringing pizza to the group. Video footage taken from the moment shows Trump shaking hands with the officials before one could be heard saying, “Sir, save us please” as others echoed after.
Trump additionally also visited Steamfitters Local 638 in April, where one union worker supporting the former president went viral after sending a two-word message to President Joe Biden: “Fuck you.” The union’s manager, Bob Bartels, revealed after the visit that his poll of union members appears to have Trump leading Biden “three to one” out of 9,000 members surveyed.