Trump’s legal defense strategy questioned by Fox News lawyer

Former President Donald Trump‘s legal defense strategy in the classified documents case might be on shaky grounds, according to Fox News legal commentator Jonathan Turley.

Turley, a George Washington University law professor who testified in defense of the former president during his first impeachment, said in a tweet on Tuesday that he was “skeptical” about Trump’s current legal team succeeding after the ex-president was arraigned on 37 federal felony counts at a Miami, Florida, courthouse.

Trump, through his attorney Todd Blanche, pleaded not guilty to each of the counts on Tuesday. Turley weighed in on the proceedings a short time later, questioning why the former president’s legal team purportedly indicated it would challenge prosecutors citing the Espionage Act, which is the basis for 31 of the counts facing Trump.

“Trump has now pleaded not guilty to all 37 counts,” Turley tweeted. “The Trump team is indicating that it will challenge the use of the Espionage Act. As stated last week, I am skeptical that such an attack would succeed given prior cases. Yet, even if successful, it would still leave six counts.”

In subsequent tweets, Turley went on to say that the “most important aspect” of initial defense challenges would be the potential for “the delay that they will cause,” arguing that Special Counsel Jack Smith‘s hopes for a “speedy trial” could also be in jeopardy since “Trump’s dance card is filling up” elsewhere.

Former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of the firm West Coast Trial Lawyers, suggested that a delay was high on the defense wish list as well, saying in a statement emailed to Newsweek that Trump had “lucked out” when the case was assigned to Judge Aileen Cannon, his own judicial pick, who “could easily push this trial beyond the 2024 election.”

Turley, who previously called the indictment “extremely damning” during a Fox News appearance, also criticized the Espionage Act as “the last refuge of the government when it lacks any other means to punish targeted persons” in an opinion article published by The Daily Beast on Tuesday.

However, Turley still expressed skepticism about an attempt to challenge the act in court as a successful strategy for Trump, writing, “at the end of the day, even if the government was wrong on the Espionage Act, you are not allowed to obstruct or lie to federal investigators.”

Turley is not the only former Trump defender to warn that he is now facing a serious legal challenge. Former Attorney General Bill Barr, ex-Trump impeachment attorney Alan Dershowitz and former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb have all said that federal prosecutors have a strong case.

Trump’s legal team in the documents case currently consists of Blanche and fellow attorney Chris Kise. The team lost two key members last week with the departure of Jim Trusty and John Rowley, who abruptly resigned following the indictment.

The ex-president is facing 34 state felony counts of falsifying business records in New York in addition to the federal charges. He could be hit with more state charges in Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is leading a grand jury investigation into his attempts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James, who is also leading a civil fraud lawsuit against Trump, said on Tuesday that the former president’s case in the Empire State and the potential charges in Georgia would likely both be put on hold while the federal proceedings play out.

Smith’s ongoing investigation of Trump’s attempts to overturn President Joe Biden‘s 2020 election victory and his activities leading up to the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack could yield additional federal charges.

Newsweek has reached out to the offices of Blanche and Kise via email for comment.