'He didn't take the bait': CNN analyst praises Chauvin witness who kept his cool after lawyer called him 'angry'

Donald Williams, a mixed martial arts fighter who testified as a witness in the trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin on Tuesday, earned praise for his performance from CNN legal analyst Laura Coates.

During his testimony, Chauvin defense attorney Eric Nelson repeatedly tried to paint Williams, a Black man, as "angry" because video showed him yelling at Chauvin to take his knee off George Floyd's neck.

Coates said that Williams did a good job of keeping his cool and refusing to lash out.

"He did not take the bait," she said. "I am glad he didn't. The bait was not worth catching."

She then explained that Nelson's strategy seemed to be "scapegoating" the crowd of people who had surrounded Chauvin and his fellow officers and who pleaded with them to check on Floyd's physical health.

"What they were trying to do is suggest somehow and scapegoat the crowd, reacting to what they witnessed and their belief they had just seen a murder," she said. "That somehow their calls, their actions somehow influenced the officer's decision to take the knee off or keep the knee on George Floyd's neck. Those are wholly distinct issues."

Watch the video below.