Former President Donald Trump's attorney has made an "outrageous" argument to move for a mistrial in the E. Jean Carroll defamation lawsuit, said former Justice Department official Mary McCord on MSNBC Friday.
Alina Habba's argument, also made in court earlier this week, is that Carroll destroyed evidence when she deleted emails detailing death threats.
"This is so confounding, Mary, unless you look at it through the lens of [Trump's] desire to make a political argument rather than a legal argument," said anchor Alicia Menendez. "It's hard to see how the argument they're making does not turn off that jury."
McCord agreed.
"Just as a matter of human nature, the jury is listening to the testimony in this case," she said. "I can't imagine they wouldn't be put off by what Alina Habba is arguing and certainly anything that they saw Mr. Trump doing while he was sitting there in the trial this week."
McCord appeared on a panel alongside legal analyst Lisa Rubin and former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance, both of whom also discussed another filing from Habba Rubin called "perverse."
The former prosecutor said Habba's mistrial argument was equally shocking.
"To suggest [Carroll] had an obligation and she violated that obligation and the penalty should be reason for a mistrial, it's outrageous," McCord said. "As Joyce says, it denies that human dignity that you have to sit there, take it, read it over and over as it's coming in through your social media, through your emails, what have you."
McCord acknowledged the discovery rule stating evidence must be preserved after litigation has been filed, but noted the timeline is important.
"A lot of what we're talking about predates litigation and again is about a woman who was getting death threats," McCord said. "And [Carroll] continues to be vilified by Mr. Trump, who has gone off during this trial and made the same accusations, the same false accusations, that he's already been found liable for in one previous trial."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
Mary McCord says Alina Habba's mistrial motion is "outrageous"www.youtube.com
