Donald Trump became the first former president to be convicted of felony crimes as a New York jury found him guilty of 34 felony counts. Seth Wenig/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
President Donald Trump has a long list of perceived enemies that he has attempted to weaponize the Justice Department against, but as one CNN anchor argued on Saturday, there could be a very important reason that he has not gone after possibly his biggest of his "legal nemeses."
During the Saturday morning CNN broadcast, host Michael Smerconish discussed the former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci's congressional testimony, in which he pleaded the Fifth over 100 times while being grilled about COVID-19 conspiracy theories by Republican lawmakers. While arguing that Fauci's decision might have been a mistake, Smerconish ultimately noted that he could understand the decision "towrap himself in the pardon givento him on the last day of President [Joe] Biden's administration, which protectseverything up through January of 2025," given Trump's established trend of going after his perceived enemies in court.
Smerconish argued that Fauci "washesitant to testify in a climateof legal weaponization" created by Trump, before launching into a long list of names already targeted by his DOJ: James Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff, John Bolton, John Brennan, Lisa Cook, Jerome Powell, Mark Kelly, Eric Swalwell, Fani Willis and Jack Smith.
Conspicuously absent from that list, Smerconish argued, is Alvin Bragg, the current District Attorney for New York County. Bragg is notable as the only one of Trump's many legal nemeses who was actually able to secure a felony conviction against him, with Trump being found guilty in 2024 on 34 counts related to his "hush money" case, in which he directed funds to pay off adult film star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about an affair before the 2016 election and falsified business records to keep the payments a secret.
In light of that slight against him, it appears notable that Trump has not made any move to go after Bragg in retaliation. During his segment on Saturday, Smerconish put forward his own personal theory about why the president might be giving Bragg a pass: because he helped him get reelected.
"Curiousthat among all of Trump's legalnemeses, only Alvin Bragg hasthus far escaped scrutiny likethe others," the host said. "And he's the onewho convicted Trump. I have atheory about that. That caseactually did more to elect Donald Trump than any of theothers that he faced. And maybeTrump agrees with me."
Elsewhere in the segment, Smerconish elaborated further: "Now,you've heard me say before, Idon't think Donald Trump shouldhave been indicted four times.Those indictments they played tohis benefit, especially thatwhich resulted in a convictiondue to the hush money payments.That's the case pursued by Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. Duringthe campaign, Trump told a CPACconference, I am yourretribution. I don't know if hedelivered for that audience, buthe's surely been his ownavenger."
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