CNN legal analyst Norm Eisen said Monday on “Newsroom” that former President Donald Trump’s New York defense team hopes one juror will not follow the “evidence and law.”
Eisen said, “In terms of the arguments, battle will be joined around three issues. One: Can the jury believe the critical testimony of Michael Cohen, as it’s corroborated and supported by a mountain of evidence? In a sense, the prosecution’s entire work across 20 days of trial was to corroborate Cohen. Two: Can the jury find that Donald Trump, beyond a reasonable doubt, intentionally made that hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, 2016, in order to influence his federal campaign after Access Hollywood catastrophe, another sex scandal. Issue three: Did Trump participate in covering that up by creating false documents, Jim, including nine checks with his own signature on them.”
Host Jim Acosta said, “What’s the likelihood we will see a conviction here? And how could that play out?”
Eisen said, “This was a winnable case. It still is not a slam dunk in my view, having been there every day, for the prosecution. I think the odds of a conviction are somewhere upwards of 80%. The defense, in part because of this scattershot approach, the defense is not really gunning for an acquittal. That’s out of reach here. What they are hoping for is one angry juror, that there is one juror who either feels such sympathy for Trump or, just for whatever reason, does not follow the evidence and the law, the holdout. That’s what they’re trying for. Just one.”
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