'They're making the case easier': Trump and co-defendants said to be hurting their chances
Trevian Kutti, one of the co-defendants in former President Donald Trump's election racketeering case in Georgia who is accused of furthering the plot to intimidate election workers, could have her pretrial release in jeopardy after she took to Instagram Live and threatened election worker Ruby Freeman, saying she would "f--k up" her life.
Attorney and MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang was aghast at Kutti's behavior.
"This was her mugshot," said anchor Joy Reid, putting up an image. "The other thing she said in this live is that she practiced this [mugshot expression], that this was purposeful."
"For two hours," added Phang.
"She wanted to look like this, yeah," said Reid. "I'm not a lawyer, but I know that was dumb to do an Instagram Live and basically threaten the witness maybe again."
"So when I was a prosecutor, I used to tell juries, I can't promise to give you a smart defendant, but I'm giving you a defendant, and that's Trevian Kutti," said Phang. "She's not a smart defendant. None of them can be smart if they drank the Trump Kool-Aid and helped a conspiracy to do what they did. But Trevian Kutti ... the one possible out she may have is that she didn't actually refer to Ruby Freeman by name. But we're not stupid and neither is Judge McAfee, and certainly not D.A. Fani Willis."
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis can now seek the termination of Kutti's bond, Phang continued, because "her bond conditions ... is that she's not allowed to threaten, intimidate, harass any victim, any witness, any co-defendant in the case. What's problematic is she posts on social media as well. Not just Instagram Live, she posts on Twitter as well. And so she's just inviting more trouble. And she is — it's an indication of a systemic problem we're having with these co-defendants in Fulton County, running from Trump to Harrison Floyd to Trevian Kutti: They don't keep their mouths shut. They're making the case easier for Fani Willis. Why? Because why would she be threatening somebody if she didn't think there was exposure to her, if that person opens their mouth and testifies."
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"The other stupidity that comes into play — they're being prosecuted as part of a larger RICO conspiracy, but she's being prosecuted for threatening Ruby Freeman," added Phang. "What does she do on Instagram Live? Threaten Ruby Freeman. It's consistency, at least I'll give her a gold star for that, but I'll give her an F for intelligence when it comes to dealing with the criminal prosecution."
Watch the video below or at the link here.
Katie Phang on Trevian Kutti's new threats against Ruby Freeman www.youtube.com