Lawyer sees confusing jurors as key to getting Trump acquitted: analysts
May 09, 2024
Stormy Daniels appeared in court again Thursday as cross-examination took a testy turn — and analysts said Donald Trump had a specific aim.
The former president's attorney, Susan Necheles, questioned Daniels and asked about repeated denials by her of an allegeged sexual relationship — which she has since gone into lurid details of in her testimony. On Tuesday, Daniels said she made the denials to comply with a non-disclosure agreement.
Since then, Daniels sued to be released from the NDA so she could tell her story. She won the case.
Legal analyst Temidayo Aganga-Williams, who previously served as senior counsel on the Jan. 6 Committee, said the back-and-forth about the NDA could be about creating "complexity and confusion" for the jury.
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"A lot of things pointed out aren't relevant to the crime charged," he explained. The benefit you have is to say we can't parse this out, and that means you can find beyond a reasonable doubt. That's the goal here. It's not a target."
He continued, saying that the attorneys are trying to "create the semblance of confusion and tell the jury the prosecutors don't know what happened so, how can you know what happened? That's why you should acquit."
"I think ultimately, if you're thinking about juries, you want to make sure that this witness who is important to the prosecution's case, if you're the defense, is not likable and is not credible," said civil rights attorney Charles Coleman.
He noted that that was the reason prosecutors asked Daniels to keep her answers short on Tuesday — to limit the amount of testimony the defense could attack her on.
"Now that that door is open, if you are Donald Trump's attorneys, you want to create a situation where you can say to the jury, was she lying then when she signed the document, and you know, was closer to where it was that she was going to be and no one knew? Or is she lying now that she's sort of this person who has this much to gain and wants to get money from Donald Trump," said Coleman.
Trump faces 34 charges of business fraud relating to hush money payments he allegedly paid Daniels to keep quiet about the affair before the 2016 election.
He denies the charges.
See the discussion in the video below or at the link here.
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