Former President Donald Trump is making the same mistake twice in his current Manhattan criminal trial, George Conway, the vocally anti-Trump lawyer and legal analyst, said this week.
On Wednesday, Conway appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe and spoke about the criminal trial against Trump for his alleged hush money payments made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016.
During his appearance, Conway compared Trump's current trial behavior to his recent defamation case involving E. Jean Carroll, saying "I actually don't think he has a complete ability to control himself. I think we saw that during the E. Jean Carroll trial, I think we're going to see it again."
Conway said he believes its "important" for New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to give Trump "warnings," on how he acts toward potential jurors and said, "But the fact is, to the extent he does that to the jury—in front of the jury, it shows disrespect for the jury and doesn't necessarily help him and that's one of the reasons why I think that he was hit with that $83.3 million verdict during the second E. Jean Carroll trial."
The context
Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan continued on Tuesday with the jury selection process.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump in April 2023, accusing the former president of "fraudulently falsified New York business records to conceal crimes that hid damaging information from the voting public during the 2016 presidential election."
Trump has continued to deny any wrongdoing in the case. The former president was also previously placed under a gag order by Merchan.
In January, Trump was found liable for defaming Carroll, a former Elle columnist, when responding to sexual assault allegations made against him. He was ordered to pay more than $80 million by a judge.
What we know
During the jury selection process on Tuesday, Trump attorney Todd Blanche brought up a potential juror's social media posts, which he said celebrated the former president's loss in the 2020 election.
Merchan said Trump was clearly audible at the time and gesturing to the juror. The judge said he will not tolerate such behavior, allowing witnesses to be intimidated.
The potential juror was later dismissed after Trump's legal team used one of its peremptory strikes against her.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.
Views
In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump criticized the jury selection process and called for more "strikes" for his legal team.
"I thought STRIKES were supposed to be 'unlimited' when we were picking our jury? I was then told we only had 10, not nearly enough when we were purposely given the 2nd Worst Venue in the Country," Trump wrote. "Don't worry, we have the First Worst also, as the Witch Hunt continues! ELECTION INTERFERENCE!"
What's next
The trial is not taking place on Wednesday but is expected to pick back up on Thursday as the jury selection process continues.
Update 4/17/24, 11:21 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with further information.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
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