Turley hits Trump for undermining legal team effort: ‘Judges less likely to take these issues seriously’

Jonathan Turley on Friday slammed President Trump for comments alleging Democrats are attempting to steal the U.S. presidential election, arguing that Trump “has an army of lawyers” preparing for court battles and the rhetoric is “undermining their effort.”

“First of all, what you should not do is have the president continuing to talk about stealing the election,” Turley said in an appearance on “Fox & Friends.”

“He has an army of lawyers who are preparing to litigate these questions. This is undermining their effort,” the Fox News contributor and George Washington University professor continued. “It makes judges less likely to take these issues seriously or approach them aggressively.”

“He needs to just tamp down the rhetoric and focus on the theme that he wants all legal votes to count. That’s fine. Leave the specifics to his lawyers,” he added.

The rebuke comes after Trump alleged Thursday afternoon that he would “easily win” the election “if illegal votes” were not counted but did not provide evidence for his claim.

“This is a case where they’re trying to steal an election,” the president said. “They’re trying to rig an election, and we can’t let that happen.”

Turley testified against the president’s impeachment after being called as a witness by House Judiciary Committee Republicans in December 2019.

Turley is a regular opinion contributor at The Hill.