Jack Smith just stepped in to stop Trump from 'corroding' trial's fairness: expert

Former President Donald Trump's outbursts and attacks on prosecutors and witnesses are a ploy to try to undermine the fairness of his own trial in the federal election case, giving him greater chance of appeal, argued MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin on Friday.

This comes as special counsel Jack Smith moves for a partial gag order against Trump, just unsealed by Judge Tanya Chutkan, following his alleged efforts to threaten and intimidate witnesses.

"I guess, Lisa, my first question for you was, one, it was always going to come, wasn't it?" asked anchor Nicolle Wallace.

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"He goes through Trump's history of intimidating witnesses and others right after the 2020 election up through the present day," said Rubin. "And there is detail about social media posts, about the judge herself, about Washingtonians and how they're going to be prejudiced against him, about lawyers of the special counsel, about Biden and [former Attorney General] Bill Barr. And they go through that history and basically say it to her, don't sanction him, gag him."

"And that is to preserve the potential for a fair trial," said Wallace.

"That's exactly right," agreed Rubin. "Basically he doesn't know this, but we're doing this for him. But they're also doing it for themselves. They're trying to ensure any trial in which Trump is convicted is one immune from appeal on the basis he didn't get a fair shake, and they know he's doing everything he can to corrode justice in the District of D.C."

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