CNN legal analyst is calling out the rigged Trump case

NEW: Alvin Bragg's former colleague and current CNN legal analyst is calling out the rigged Trump case, even accusing Judge Juan Merchan of violating the law.

Elie Honig says the trial "blew his mind" as he called it an "unjustified mess."

"The judge donated money - a tiny amount of $35, but in plain violation of a rule prohibiting New York judges from making political donations of any kind to a pro-Biden, anti-Trump political operation," he wrote in the NY Magazine.

"The charges against Trump are obscure and nearly entirely unprecedented. In fact, no state prosecutor... has ever charged federal election laws as a direct or predicate state crime, against anyone, for anything."

"None. Ever. Even putting aside the specifics of election law, the Manhattan DA itself almost never brings any case in which falsification of business records is the only charge."

"The charges against Trump aren’t just unusual. They’re bespoke, seemingly crafted individually for the former president and nobody else," he said as he called the case "Frankenstein" because it was pieced together.

During a segment on CNN, Honig said his mind was blown when the judge determined that the jury didn't need to know what the other crime Trump committed was.

"I need to call this out... Prosecutors have to prove falsified records for another crime. Defense lawyers were begging him."

"They have to know what the other crime is, and prosecutors were saying, 'no, let's keep it very vague and general.' It's a bizarro world."

"I know that there is some aggressive reading of the New York statute that says, 'well, the jury doesn't really have to know what the other crime is.' But to me that suggests that the DA's office is hellbent on getting the conviction now and worry about the fallout."