MSNBC legal analyst David Henderson expressed concern that former President Donald Trump’s remarks outside a New York courthouse could influence jurors in his trial.
Trump is confronting 34 felony counts for allegedly falsifying business records pertaining to payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election for her silence about an alleged affair. The former president frequently delivers speeches outside of the courtroom to the media, which could be persuasive to jurors, Henderson said on “Andrea Mitchell Reports.” (RELATED: ‘Morning Joe’ Panelists Dismayed By Trump’s ‘Terrifyingly Competent’ Campaign)
“If I was on this … trial team, how would I feel about this? It makes me nervous because these days I think jurors are influenced by what happens in the press … What actually makes me really nervous are two things. One, him talking about how long it took to bring the case and him talking about the fact that other agencies didn’t bring the case,” Henderson said. “I’m not persuaded by that. None of us on this panel are persuaded by that, but some jurors sometimes will be persuaded by that.”
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“Here’s the catch though … He’s very good at making these speeches outside of the courtroom, but from what I have seen from him so far, he’s not very good at testifying on the stand under the constraints of the courtroom,” Henderson added.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo argued during opening statements Monday that Trump sought to “corrupt” the 2016 election through the payments to Daniels, highlighting three “catch and kill” deals Trump allegedly organized with his former lawyer Michael Cohen and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker to stop harmful stories from becoming public.
Trump is under a gag order that bars him from making statements regarding witnesses, prosecutors other than the district attorney, court staff, their families and prospective jurors.
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