Brookings Institution senior fellow Norm Eisen said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” former President Donald Trump will likely be convicted in the New York business document trial.
Eisen said, “They’re going for one angry juror. I’m in the courtroom every day, observing and writing about the trial and one of the things I do is look at the jury, particularly when they come in and out when Trump moves in the courtroom and so far, it’s not working. The prosecution has very effectively, again, I have to disagree with Tim, they have very effectively argued in their opening and then presented evidence through David Pecker of a criminal conspiracy to influence an election.”
He continued, “If you pump money to individuals to kill negative stories to benefit a campaign, and Pecker testified they agreed to that, that is a violation of law. And people have been prosecuted for that, have pled guilty to that. That is against the law. And then if you cover it up with 34 false documents, you have 34 very serious felonies. And the prosecution has made this case, George, as an election interference case. They’ve emphasized to the jury the seriousness of the case. They did try to tear down David Pecker, but they made a mistake. The same kind of misleading conduct that their client has engaged in. They showed Pecker a document and the judge said it was misleading.”
Eisen added, “And I’ve never had to do this. I was telling Tim the other day, I’ve never had to do this in 30, over 30 years of going to court. They made Trump’s lawyer apologize when we started court on Friday morning. So, I think we’re headed for a conviction, and with it, as I wrote in “The New York Times” this week, possible jail time.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN