Donald Trump's legal team is showing "extraordinary desperation" in his Stormy Daniels hush money case as he faces "a significant risk of being convicted and sentenced to incarceration," according to a former White House special counsel.
The comments were made during a CNN appearance on Wednesday by Norm Eisen who served under President Obama as White House special counsel and U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic.
Trump has pled not guilty to 34 counts claiming he falsified business documents over the alleged payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels, a former pornographic actress, so she would keep quiet about an alleged sexual relationship ahead of the 2016 presidential election. The presumptive Republican presidential nominee denies both having an affair with Daniels in 2006 and any criminal wrongdoing. The trial to begin on Monday, making it the first of Trump's four ongoing criminal cases to reach this stage.
Speaking on CNN, where he frequently appears as a legal commentator, Eisen said: "I have never seen anything like this. He stands a significant risk of being convicted and sentenced to incarceration, and he knows it."
Eisen said the possibility that any hush money paid to Daniels influenced the 2016 election outcome makes the charges against Trump particularly serious.
He said: "So that is why the connection is here; 2016 allegations of lying to voters to manipulate an election.
"And then as a gateway drug to 2020, that's why Trump is so alarmed in this extraordinary failed effort."
When asked by Newsweek for comment Donald Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said: "Is this the same Norm Eisen who is a Democrat donor and operative, and whose career has been funded by George Soros?"
Trump's legal team on Wednesday launched a bid to delay his trial and was rejected by a New York appeals court for the third day in a row. Trump's attorneys wanted to pause the case as they sought the removal of presiding Judge Juan Merchan and challenge a number of his pre-trial rulings.
On Monday, Trump's team sought to postpone the trial so it could be moved out of Manhattan, where they argue he won't get a fair trial. On Tuesday, they argued for a pause whilst Trump fights a gag order imposed by Judge Merchan. Both bids were unsuccessful.
During an appearance on Dan Abrams' NewsNation show on Tuesday, journalist and talk show host Megyn Kelly said she believes Trump could be convicted "pretty easily" in the Stormy Daniels case due to the trial location.
She said: "Oh, he's getting convicted. I don't really think there's a lot of mystery about that. He shouldn't, but he's going to get convicted. The jury's going to hate him.
"Manhattan went 92 percent—between 87 and 92 percent for Joe Biden. That's where this is going to be tried. These are not Trump lovers."
Trump is also facing criminal prosecution over allegations he mishandled classified documents, then obstructed their return to the relevant authorities, and attempted to overturn the 2020 presidential election both nationwide and in the state of Georgia specifically. He has pled not guilty to all counts and insists the cases against him are politically motivated.
Update 4/11/24 6:20 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
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James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
