NEW YORK: President Donald Trump's tweets calling for the death penalty in the Halloween bike path attack that killed eight people could legally be cited as a symptom of widespread government bias. But experts say it's unlikely they'll become a speed bump in the prosecution.
Trump wrote on Twitter late Wednesday that Sayfullo Saipov (sy-foo-LOH' sy-EE'-pawf) "SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!"
On Thursday, he tweeted that prosecutors "Should move fast. DEATH PENALTY!"
A Fordham Law School professor says judges can weed out bias and will reject any defense claims about it.
Saipov is at a federal lockup.
His lawyer, David Patton, says he hopes "everyone lets the judicial process play out."
The man the FBI said it was seeking as a person of interest in the New York truck attack has rebuked the plot and says it was "not from our religion."
On Wednesday, the FBI released a poster saying it was looking for Mukhammadzoir Kadirov, only to announce less than 90 minutes later that it had found him. He has not been detained or arrested.
On Thursday, Kadirov released a statement to The Associated Press through a person in touch with his family. It calls the attack "sad and unbelievable." He says "no human being who has a heart can do this."
A law enforcement official says Kadirov was a friend of suspect Sayfullo Saipov (sy-foo-LOH' sah-YEE'-pawf) and may not have any role in the case. Saipov didn't have many friends, said the official, who wasn't authorized to speak publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.