Ex-prosecutor: Trump enjoys 'different system of justice' because he’s 'wealthy and white'

01 March 2024

Despite having been indicted four times in three separate jurisdictions, prosecutors are still having immense difficulty in actually holding former President Donald Trump accountable for his alleged crimes. One former federal prosecutor said that's no accident based on his firsthand knowledge with the justice system.

In a recent segment on MSNBC, former assistant US attorney Andrew Weissmann — who prosecuted high-profile organized crime cases in New York City for more than a decade — said that by nature of Trump being born into a rich and influential family and being elected to the highest office in the nation, he's a naturally more elusive target for law enforcement.

"In this country, if you are wealthy and white, there is a different system of justice both at the federal and state level. I spent many, many years in the Department of Justice prosecuting people and companies — whether it was organized crime or corporate crime — who were wealthy white people. And it is just impossible to not face facts that they are given a disproportionate amount of justice," Weissmann said. "Their cases are reviewed in a closer way, judges look at them and judges who for many, many years were also the exact same race and class and wealth would identify themselves with the defendants and not view them the same way that they viewed other people."

"Just to be clear, I'm not saying that that is not the appropriate level of scrutiny given to other criminal defendants, it's that it's not given to everyone," he continued. "Everyone is entitled to that close scrutiny and it just simply is the case that if you re in the group of people that Donald Trump is in, you have that heightened scrutiny that is not afforded to everyone else."

Trump won a big victory earlier this week after the Supreme Court accepted his appeal of prior rulings that determined he did not have absolute broad immunity from criminal prosecution as a former president. That decision means that US District Judge Tanya Chutkan will have to delay proceedings in Trump's DC election interference trial for several more months while both sides prepare for oral arguments on April 22, and while the Court takes its time to decide the question. While it could theoretically hand down a decision anytime after April 22, it technically doesn't have to issue a ruling until its term ends in late June.

Aside from his DC trial, Trump has also managed to sideline two of his other trials, with US District Judge Aileen Cannon — whom Trump appointed to her lifetime position in 2020 — sounding skeptical of Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith's arguments that his classified documents trial should begin in July. Meanwhile, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has spent the last several weeks fending off attempts to disqualify her from the case after an attorney for one of Trump's co-defendants accused her of impropriety.

Trump isn't entirely off the hook until after election day — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will be the first to prosecute Trump in a criminal trial on March 25 for an alleged hush money scheme that Bragg characterized as an illegal campaign contribution.

Watch Weissmann's segment below, or by clicking this link.

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