ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos clashed with former President Trump’s attorney, Will Scharf, in a Sunday interview, over the former president’s unsubstantiated claims that President Biden played a role in bringing the hush money criminal case against Trump in New York.
In an interview on “This Week,” Scharf repeatedly echoed claims of the former president, arguing the hush money criminal trial – which ended in a guilty conviction against Trump on 34 felony counts – was “exhibit A” in terms of the “politization of the legal system.”
“It’s absolutely unprecedented in American history. It’s not the way that our campaigns are supposed to be run. We contest elections at the ballot box, not in the courts in this country,” Scharf continued.
Stephanopoulos conceded Scharf’s point about winning election at the ballot box but made clear there was no evidence to suggest any involvement of the federal Department of Justice with the New York state criminal trial that just concluded.
“That is true. But, of course, we’ve never had a former president or presidential candidate facing the kind of charges that the president faced because of his own activities. And, of course, the attorney general in Manhattan has nothing to do with the Department of Justice,” Stephanopoulos said.
As Stephanopoulos tried to pivot back to his question about the sentencing process, Scharf pressed on, refusing to concede his point about the prosecution being politically motivated. Stephanopoulos eventually interrupted.
“I vehemently disagree that the district attorney in New York was not politically motivated here,” Scharf said, “and I vehemently disagree that President Biden and his political allies aren’t up to their necks in this prosecution.”
Stephanopoulos jumped in, saying, “There’s no evidence here of that. Sir, there’s no, I’m not going to let you continue to say that. There’s just zero evidence of that.”
“Do you want to answer the question about the sentencing process or not?” Stephanopoulos added, after some back and forth.
Scharf pointed to the prosecutor in the case, Matthew Colangelo, “standing over [District Attorney] Alvin Bragg’s shoulder when he announced this verdict,” as evidence of political interference, noting he used to work at the Department of Justice, before the interview wrapped up.
