EXCLUSIVE: Trump Manhattan trial judge reviews risk assessment by anti-Trump psychiatrist

Former President Donald Trump listens during the presidential debate with President Joe Biden at CNN studios in Atlanta on Thursday evening. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu/Getty Images)

FIRST IN DAILY SIGNAL — Five mental health professionals, some of whom have already accused Donald Trump of being “dangerous,” have prepared a risk assessment for New York state Judge Juan Merchan to consider in Trump’s July 11 sentencing decision, according to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Banda X. Lee, a longtime critic of the former president.

It is unclear whether all five are psychiatrists or whether they may have other training. Their risk assessment could be a factor in the severity of Merchan’s sentence for Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court, which could be up to 20 years in prison for all 34 crimes he was convicted of last month.

Lee edited the book “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President,” first published in 2017. In May, she published a new book titled “The Psychology of Trump Contagion: An Existential Threat to American Democracy and All Humankind.”

Lee, who has taught at Yale, Columbia and Harvard, also pushed back against recent calls by some Republican members of Congress to invoke the 25th Amendment on Biden, which would allow him to be temporarily removed by Vice President Kamala Harris and the Cabinet.

Biden’s appearance during Thursday night’s debate with Trump echoed such calls.

“The reason so many people see problems with Joe Biden is because Donald Trump is projecting his mental health symptoms onto Joe Biden so he can deny his own symptoms,” Lee told The Daily Signal, referring to the debate between the incumbent Democrat and his Republican opponent.

“There is a huge difference between being inappropriate and someone not looking very good,” she said. “Joe Biden’s presentation is making people lose confidence in him. This does not at all equate to danger or inappropriateness.”

Merchan presided over Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan, where a jury last month found the 45th president guilty of 34 felonies in connection with trying to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels.

Merchan will then preside over the trial during which the verdict against the former president will be announced on July 11.

Lee said mental health experts made recommendations to the judge about the threat Trump poses to society, the likelihood he will commit crimes and what message the sentence would send to future criminals.

The forensic psychiatrist said she would not make her recommendations public before the verdict is announced and declined to name the other people who signed on to them, but referred to public statements she and her colleagues have already made evaluating Trump.

Lee said she and other mental health experts reviewed special counsel Robert Mueller’s 2019 report and found Trump unfit to be president. Mueller conducted an investigation and was unable to substantiate allegations of a conspiracy between Trump and Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

Lee argued that the mental fitness test did not require an interview. A “functional” test does not require the cooperation of the subject, while a “diagnostic” test does, she added.

Lee, however, said she and her colleagues did not perform such a functional test on Biden because they did not believe the sitting president posed a risk to society, but they believed Trump did.

“We only did it for Donald Trump because he is a danger to society,” Lee said. “Mental health professionals have a responsibility to society and must act.”

Lee said neither she nor her colleagues were asked to evaluate Biden. But she noted, “Our group recommended that Joe Biden volunteer to take the test and set the standard for future presidents.”

Lee noted that some high-ranking officers are required to undergo mental health evaluations.

During the debate, Trump noted that he passed two cognitive tests and Biden did not. Such a test only proves someone should not be placed in a nursing home, Lee said.

The forensic psychiatrist then criticized Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Texas Republican who served as White House physician to both Trump and Barack Obama.

“I have often criticized Dr. Ronny Jackson. He is not trained or qualified to conduct a mental fitness examination,” Lee said. “He was a White House employee and a subordinate of the commander in chief. He had a conflict of interest.”

As for Thursday’s Biden-Trump debate, Lee argued that it shouldn’t have happened at all — and not because of Biden.

“I would recommend that the debate not take place,” she said. “Why elevate to the level of normal someone who is not normal, like Donald Trump?”