You don't have to be a legal scholar to see what's going on.
You're right about that. I'm a law school dropout and I can clearly see what's going on.
Here's what
Judicial Watch had to say:
"I've been watching this trial for. Days on end. Obviously, I'm not in the courtroom. But I've been reading the reports very carefully. And I've yet to see any evidence of criminal activity presented to the jury. Zero evidence of criminal activity by President Trump. Of course, the way he's conducting the trial has been biased. Political. Virtually every major ruling is alien to the very concept of the rule of law."
READ: https://www.judicialwatch.org/biden-special-counsel-interviews-2/
www.judicialwatch.org
Tom Fitton of
Judicial Watch, who is also clearly not a lawyer (despite him giving Donald Trump legal advice during the 2020 election lawsuits) but a FIOA troll, does not appear to understand what's going on.
These are not "non-crimes" - even the FEC acknowledged there were payments made that were in violation of federal campaign finance laws (in 2017), but they were blocked by the commissioners from prosecution.
None of the rulings in this case, so far, has been "alien to the very concept of the rule of law". It's very hard to point to any ruling that is anything other than legal, pro forma and mundane. Merchan's rulings have been very detailed in their citations of precedent. The major exception would be Merchan's ruling on whether re-posting social media comment is an endorsement of speech (which has been a legal question for about 15 years).
The judge crafted a tight gag order, which is not unusual in the slightest when it comes to Donald Trump, was narrowly tailored.
It does not cover or impinge on the Trump campaign - as claimed by Fitton - but is specifically limited those testifying in the case, opposing counsel and employees of the Court and their families.
The judge is not punishing Donald Trump for "maintaining his innocence" - in fact, he specified that protestations of innocence are excluded from the gag order.
There's plenty of evidence of criminal activity being presented - the prosecution maintain that Donald Trump had payments made to Storm Daniels, via an intermediary, in order to hide information from the public. Those payments were then disguised through false business record filings, with a little bit of tax evasion sprinkled on top.