Trump's kids are contradicting themselves on the stand: ex-Republican lawmaker

Former President Donald Trump's children are contradicting themselves as they try to wriggle out of the civil fraud trial brought by New York State, one moment claiming they are smarter than state officials about finances and the next claiming that they were never aware of these day-to-day decisions.

Former Rep. David Jolly (R-FL), who has been watching the trial unfold, broke down this disconnect on MSNBC's "Deadline: White House" Friday evening.

"This started with the Trump family, Eric and Don and Ivanka — I guess she's not a defendant," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "Eric and Don and Donald Trump being liable for fraud, you don't have — you know, they're not playing to win anymore, but I wonder what you make of the spectacle they've made of themselves."

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"Yeah, I'm so glad that Sue was able to kind of articulate the different defenses because it perfectly represents kind of every Trump legal proceeding, every accusation against the former president regardless of jurisdiction or forum, and it's this," said Jolly, a frequent critic of his erstwhile party. "There are always two contradictory arguments that they make. First is, the smartest person in the room argument that, well, regulators don't know what they're talking about. Banks don't know. Prosecutors don't know, the attorney general doesn't know. We're the smartest people in the room, why would you question us. Then they go to the dumbest person in the room, which is, oh, I didn't know anything that was going on. I have nothing to do with this. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Ultimately — this is the fascinating thing, when it really gets down to it, when they feel that they are really in trouble, either facing criminal culpability or civil liability, it often comes down to the dumbest person in the room defense," Jolly continued. "I had no idea what I was doing. It was a fascinating trajectory. Then they inject something critical, which is intimidation and harassment, and whether it is using kind of the cultural movement they've created to come down with intimidation and harassment that leads to a gag order, and whether it is something that leads to the violence like January 6th."

"That also is kind of the final thematic which creates the danger around much of these proceedings," Jolly added. "Again, if we didn't have the proceedings, we'd probably end up in a more dangerous space."

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