Judy Sheindlin, better known as TV icon Judge Judy, has described Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York as “nonsense.”
The retired judge spoke with CNN’s Chris Wallace on Friday about the former president and his recent felony conviction. Sheindlin was the star of reality TV hit “Judge Judy,” where she presided over small claims cases on the show, which ran from 1996 to 2021.
Sheindlin, who is originally from Brooklyn, said that she had not been in favor of Trump’s Manhattan prosecution.
“I would be happier as someone who owns property in Manhattan, if the district attorney of New York County would take care of criminals who are making it impossible for citizens to walk in the streets and use the subway, to use his efforts to keep those people off the street, than to spend 5 million or ten million of taxpayers money trying Donald Trump on this nonsense,” she said.
Last month, a Manhattan jury unanimously convicted Donald Trump of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to stay quiet about an alleged affair in the run-up to the 2016 election.
“You had to twist yourself into a pretzel to figure out what the crime was, he doesn’t like [Trump],” Sheindlin said of Bragg.
But despite her defense of the former president, Sheindlin had some strong criticism.
“I don’t think that Donald ever should have been president, and I don’t think that even Donald thought he was going to be president,” the TV star said.
Sheindlin, 81, did not endorse Trump for the 2024 presidential election, instead backing former GOP candidate Nikki Haley, who dropped out of the race in March.
Last month, Sheindlin sued the publisher of The National Enquirer, the tabloid which endorsed Trump in 2016 and played a key role in his hush money trial.
During Trump’s trial, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker testified that he was the Trump campaign’s “eyes and ears”, using the publication to “catch and kill” stories on Trump’s alleged affairs. He spent about $180,000 purchasing two stories.
Sheindlin is suing a360 Media, and its parent company Accelerate360, after she said the tabloid damaged her reputation with “unequivocal falsehoods” that she was trying to overturn the conviction of two California murderers, Lyle and Erik Menéndez.
The case, initially filed in the Collier County, Florida Circuit Court, has now been moved to US District Court, Middle District of Florida. After filing for an extension, the defense team has until July 5 to respond, according to court filings.
