Trump lawyer put on the spot after praising the jury before it dropped the felony hammer
May 31, 2024
A member of Donald Trump's legal brain trust was put on the spot on Friday morning over the former president's devastating 34-felony count conviction less than 24 hours after he indicated he thought the hush money trial went well and even praised the jurors.
Appearing with host Erica Hill, Will Scharf — who is also running to become Missouri's Attorney General — made the case that he feels there is a good case to appeal the conviction that has branded Trump as a felon.
That led Hill to remind him, via sharing an interview clip from Thursday, where he expressed confidence that Trump would be exonerated.
"Less than 24 hours ago you were complimenting this jury," she reminded him.
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In the clip she shared, Scharf told CNN's Jake Tapper "Most of all I'm just enthusiastic about the fact that the jury seems to be taking its duties very seriously. They're considering the law, they're considering the evidence. We believe if they do that, they'll end up at a just verdict here, which is an acquittal."
After playing the clip, Hill asked him, "Understandably this is not the verdict you wanted, obviously. But is a jury no longer thoughtful, serious or considerate simply because you didn't get the outcome that you wanted?"
"Well, I think one of the key issues here is the jury instructions," Scharf parried. "I think Judge [Juan] Merchan essentially led the jury to this guilty verdict. We're obviously going to be challenging the aspects of those instructions on appeal; a judge has a lot of control over his courtroom, and that's one of the reasons we moved so aggressively to have Judge Merchan recused off of this case because we believe that he does have irretrievable biases that under New York law that clearly warranted a recusal."
Watch the video below or at this link.
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