Attorney Alina Habba, who serves as former President Donald Trump’s legal spokesperson, provided a big update on his hush money trial ahead of closing arguments, which are scheduled to begin on Tuesday, meaning the jury could decide the case by the end of the week.
Jurors in former President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York City “should have been sequestered” over the Memorial Day weekend, Habba said during an appearance on an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News, where she also warned that members of the jury could be improperly influenced by people with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” during the holiday period.
She made the assertion while countering guest host Sean Duffy’s suggestion that the break until closing arguments on Tuesday might prevent jurors from rushing their verdict to enjoy Memorial Day plans. “They should have been sequestered because, in my opinion, these jurors are handling something that is completely unprecedented and unwarranted in America,” Habba said.
“And for them to be able to be out and about on a holiday weekend with friends and families who have opinions, who are watching the news, TVs on in the background at the pool party, I have serious concerns,” she continued. “If they’re left-winging and they’re watching MSDNC, as my client calls it, or CNN, they’re not going to get fair news.”
“They’re going to hear — but, by the way, they have been saying that this case is a hoax, which is shocking. But they know that the jurors are out there listening. And I have concerns about that. Time is — can be on your side sometimes. You’re right there,” she went on.
“But, in this instance, I have worries about them going back to whatever friends might have Trump Derangement Syndrome, forgetting all sense of reality, and coming back and sitting in that box and saying, ‘You know what, I have got to take one for the DNC (Democratic National Committee),’” Habba said. “I don’t want that. I want the law to be fact because if we can get that, we will win; we will not just get a hung jury; we will get an acquittal. So let’s see,” she concluded.
WATCH
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up payments as part of a “catch-and-kill” scheme to influence the 2016 election. His defense team rested their case last week without calling the former president to the stand.
Several legal experts have ripped District Attorney Alvin Bragg for reversing himself and bringing the charges against Trump in the first place, pointing out that Bragg initially declined to do so, the same as his predecessor, the U.S. District for the Southern District of New York, and the Federal Election Commission.