Joe Tacopina, an attorney representing former President Donald Trump, said on Wednesday that the 34 federal charges against his client are "a relief," in an interview.
Tacopina told "CBS Mornings" the day after Trump was arraigned in Manhattan court: "There's no crime at all — at all."
He added: "I mean, this is not a game. You're charging the [former] president of the United States with crimes, crimes that will never be sustained in a court of law because they don't exist."
Tacopina went on to say that the unsealed indictment is "very vanilla" and said, "it did not list the underlying crimes he's allegedly intended to cover up with false business records."
He asked, "What's to hide?" And said on the "Today" show he said, "Understand, these false business record entries — which are not even false — are misdemeanor counts" for which "the statute of limitations is long gone."
Tacopina continued: "The only way to make this a felony is to cobble together a couple of misdemeanors — the false business records and the attempt to cover up another crime. But the indictment doesn't even list what the crime is."
He also pushed back on claims that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg discovered new evidence that led him to level charges against Trump.
"There is no evidence," Tacopina said. "That's spin."
He added, "This is just rehashing a zombie case."