One of former President Donald Trump’s fiercest critics is questioning whether any other defendant would’ve been charged in the hush money case.
CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria made the admission while assessing the political blowback from the prosecution of Trump.
“The trials against [Trump] keep him in the spotlight, infuriate his base — who see him as a martyr and even may serve to make him the object of some sympathy among people in general who believe that his prosecutors are politically motivated,” the host said during his opening monologue on “Fareed Zakaria: GPS” on Sunday.
“This happens to be true, in my opinion. I doubt the New York indictment would have been brought against a defendant whose name was not Donald Trump.”
Zakaria also highlighted a CNN poll which found that 56% of Americans are doubtful that Trump will have a fair trial.
The foreign policy buff didn’t delve into specifics of why he felt that a person not named Trump wouldn’t have been charged in the hush money case.
His remarks came during a broader monologue in which he posited that President Biden’s position in the 2024 presidential battle is much weaker than he initially thought it would be.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, is spearheading the hush money case.
Trump, 77, is on trial for a 34-count criminal indictment alleging he falsified business documents to conceal hush money payments to suppress negative stories about him.
This includes money wired to porn star Stormy Daniels who testified last week about the arrangement she had with the 45th president as well as her allegations of an affair with him during the mid-2000s.
Prosecutors contend that the falsification of documents was done in order to conceal a more serious crime such as a campaign finance violation.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office first began investigating the matter in 2018 and the statute of limitations technically expired, but prosecutors have sought to toll or overcome it.
Trump has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty as he has with all 88 criminal counts spanning four indictments against him.
Zakaria has long been critical of Trump and publicly admittedly that he is rooting for Biden, 81, to prevail in the Nov. 5 presidential rematch.
