A “fawning” MSNBC legal analyst has been ripped after he gushed about having a “man crush” on the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial – as jurors on Thursday entered a second day of deliberations in the historic criminal case.
Andrew Weissmann, who was a top prosecutor for the Robert Mueller probe, was widely mocked after he heaped praise on Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan’s handling of Trump’s high-profile trial.
Weissmann served on special counsel Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. MSNBC“As you noted with respect to Judge Merchan, I mean, I am like now, you know, I have like a ‘man crush’ on him,” Weissmann told MSNBC Wednesday after the jury started deliberating.
“He is such a great judge that it’s hard to see that the jurors wouldn’t have the same impression.”
“If you looked in a dictionary for judicial temperament, that’s what you would get,” Weissmann continued, adding “it is just such an impeccably fair trial.”
The NYU law professor’s glowing admiration for the judge sparked fierce backlash – with many ridiculing him as “cringe” and others insisted Trump derangement syndrome was “one helluva drug.”
“Andrew Weissmann is one of the most unhinged commentators on MSDNC [sic]. He’s already celebrating the judge, the jury instructions, and the rigged guilty verdict,” one critic griped on X.
“He is such a great judge that it’s hard to see that the jurors wouldn’t have the same impression,” Weissmann said about Judge Juan M. Merchan (pictured). AP“Behold the impartiality of MSNBC,” one person added.
Another echoed that sentiment, saying, “Tell me again how this isn’t political.”
Lara Trump, the ex-president’s daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair, also weighed in, arguing that Weissmann’s take wasn’t a surprise.
Trump is being charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. AP“If you’re a person who wants Joe Biden to be assisted by this case and you dislike Donald Trump, I bet you have a big man crush on Juan Merchan,” Lara said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” Thursday.
She went on to accuse the judge of political bias throughout the trial, pointing out how Merchan repeatedly ruled against Trump and slapped him with several gag orders.
“This is not a surprise at all. This guy is a hero to the left because you have to take a look at all the ways he has ruled against Donald Trump and his defense,” Lara said of Merchan.
The backlash against Weissmann came after Merchan sent the 12-person jury off to start deliberating whether Trump illegally concealing a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
The panelists, five women and seven men, could find the ex-president guilty of some or all of the 34 felony counts of falsifying business records that he’s charged with.
Deliberations were resuming Thursday after jurors weighed the evidence for nearly five hours a day earlier.
Weissmann, on his part, was among those who worked on special counsel Mueller’s team investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
