Trump's 'reprehensible' actions are bringing jurors into 'maelstrom of nonsense': expert
April 18, 2024
Former President Donald Trump's attacks of the prospective jurors in his Manhattan hush money criminal trial is a sharp new escalation of his disparagement of the legal system, said CNN analyst Elliot Williams on Thursday.
This comes after Trump, who for days now has had to sit through attorneys sifting through mean social media posts about him in the courtroom, lashed out on his Truth Social platform and quoted Fox News' Jesse Watters saying that "undercover liberal activists" were being exposed in the jury pool. As of Thursday afternoon, a full jury has been selected to hear the case.
"It's reprehensible, and the judge is going to determine whether it's a violation of, steps really close to that line," Williams told anchor Jake Tapper. "Now the question is, what does the judge do with it? And the judge can't just slap cuffs on the former president and cart him off to jail. It's got to have a hearing, which is already going to be in another five days. He's letting this stay out there for a few days. Now do you fine him? Do you figure out a way to get him behind bars?"
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Ultimately, said Williams, "It's all very complicated under New York law, but it is bad conduct and it is disparaging jurors."
"Well, I mean, [the legal system] does rely to a bet on the degree of decency not just by the defendant, but also by people in the media who are supportive of the defendant, not to go after jurors," Tapper said later in the segment.
"Yeah, and to underscore the point, even in how gag orders are crafted, notice that they often exempt the judge, often exempt the prosecutor, but refer to individual citizens ... who did not choose to be part of this," said Williams. "They literally, by virtue of having a driver's license, got a letter in the mail are being brought into court and being pulled into this maelstrom of nonsense from the former president. It is dangerous to people, and it also hurts the system."
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