Following an explosive day in court during the E. Jean Carroll trial in which Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to have former President Donald Trump removed from the court for his aggressive behavior, former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen broke down on CNN how Trump's normal political strong-arm tactics are failing as he enters the legal world.
"It seems like Trump is testing the very structure of the justice system, going head to head with this judge, seeing how far he can go," said anchor Boris Sanchez.
"Unlike his successes in the political world, on the campaign trail when he does the testing, there are consequences in court," said Eisen. "The judge has made it very clear, if Donald Trump keeps up with the statement that Carroll's lawyers said, that it's a con job and a witch hunt, that can taint the jury. This is a very experienced federal judge, a very tough judge, and Donald Trump had better not cross those lines."
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"Clearly he wants everybody talking about this," said anchor Brianna Keilar. "He knows what he's doing in that regard. What is the hope? Is it a P.R. campaign? Is it hoping that someone on the jury might get wind of this? The jury was not there in the room as it happened. What are the possibilities of the outcomes...?"
The legal advantage, Eisen said, isn't the main focus here. "We know the jury pool, the larger group of potential jurors who came in, there were those who had supported Mr. Trump, there were those who did not believe that he lost the 2020 election, as far as we know, individuals that might have a bias were screened out. I don't think it's the jury."
The bigger takeaway, he said, is that Trump "has figured out that he can use his legal problems for advantage on the political trail to perpetuate this narrative, which is very effective in the primaries at least, that he's a victim, and that seems to be the objective here. The problem is, that you don't get to the White House just by succeeding in the primaries, you have to get into the general election, you're going to have to persuade independents, and there's a lot of evidence that this is a two-edged sword and will work against him further down the line."
Watch the video below or at the link.
Norm Eisen on Trump's unruly behavior in courtwww.youtube.com
