All posts tagged "Witness Issue"

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg made a sharp move by putting former National Enquirer chief David Pecker on the stand first to testify at former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, former court staffer and Lawfare correspondent Anna Bower explained on MSNBC Friday.

The reason for that, she said, is that unlike a witness like Michael Cohen, Pecker remains friendly with the former president, and so it is much harder to spin his claims about Trump's alleged "catch and kill" schemes to manipulate the 2016 election as false.

"I wonder if, from the jury's perspective, how meaningful is it that two of his friends are taking the stand to offer, not supportive evidence against him, and also on his wife's birthday, the wife for whom he is lying and creating elaborate scenarios, she's not there. None of the family has been in the courtroom," said anchor Alex Wagner....

It was wise for the Florida court to order Trump not to communicate about the case with any potential witnesses, Congressman Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and a former member of the January 6th Select Committee, said Tuesday.

Raskin was on CNN being interviewed for The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer when the host asked him about the court's order binding Trump's speech with any possible witnesses, including his co-defendant, Walt Nauta.

"Are you concerned about possible witness tampering?" Blitzer asked Raskin. ...

A federal judge in New York has delayed the first civilian trial of a former Guantanamo detainee until Wednesday as prosecutors worried about losing a key witness, The New York Times reported.