While many on the right argue that Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump is weak at best and a politically motivated at worst, and even the New York Times ran an op-ed arguing that the current argument DA Bragg is making is a bad one, some are warning that the future former President Trump faces isn’t so rosy. Among those doing so is attorney, former ambassador, and current Brookings Institution senior fellow Norm Eisen.
Former attorney Eisen, during a Sunday, April 28 appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” argued that, in his view, former President Donald Trump is likely to be convicted in the trial. As background, DA Bragg alleges that Trump recorded the so-called “hush money” payment to Daniels as a legal fee when it should have been recorded as a campaign donation.
First, explaining what the defense is doing in the case and how it is attempting to appeal to the jury, Eisen said, “They’re going for one angry juror. I’m in the courtroom every day, observing and writing about the trial and one of the things I do is look at the jury, particularly when they come in and out when Trump moves in the courtroom and so far, it’s not working.”
Continuing, Eisen argued that the prosecution has made its case well, something the NYT op-ed said was not the case. He told the “This Week” host, “The prosecution has very effectively, again, I have to disagree with Tim, they have very effectively argued in their opening and then presented evidence through David Pecker of a criminal conspiracy to influence an election.”
Eisen then explained what he thinks the violation of the law was, saying, “If you pump money to individuals to kill negative stories to benefit a campaign, and Pecker testified they agreed to that, that is a violation of law. And people have been prosecuted for that, have pled guilty to that. That is against the law. And then if you cover it up with 34 false documents, you have 34 very serious felonies.”
Eisen then argued that the defense made a potentially large mistake in how it presented the evidence, saying, “And the prosecution has made this case, George, as an election interference case. They’ve emphasized to the jury the seriousness of the case. They did try to tear down David Pecker, but they made a mistake. The same kind of misleading conduct that their client has engaged in. They showed Pecker a document and the judge said it was misleading.”
Concluding, he claimed that the current way the trial is going is bad news for Trump, saying, “And I’ve never had to do this. I was telling Tim the other day, I’ve never had to do this in 30, over 30 years of going to court. They made Trump’s lawyer apologize when we started court on Friday morning. So, I think we’re headed for a conviction, and with it, as I wrote in “The New York Times” this week, possible jail time.”
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Watch Eisen here: