A jury acquitting former President Trump in his criminal trial this week in New York would be the “worst-case scenario” for Democrats, a CNN reporter warned on Sunday.
“I think that it’s very likely this is the only trial that we are going to get before Election Day. And this case is not a slam dunk, which means that Donald Trump may very well not be convicted. Acquitted is the worst-case scenario for Democrats,” CNN political correspondent Sara Murray said.
The jury will hear closing arguments on Tuesday in the criminal trial where Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.
An acquittal before the November election could boost Trump’s chances over President Biden in the tight race, Murray predicted.
“Donald Trump gets to go out there and say, ‘Joe Biden’s prosecutors,’ which, again, not true, ‘came after me, his Department of Justice came after me, and they still didn’t convict me. I’m still innocent,’” Murray continued. “I also think you could end up somewhere in this sort of muddy middle where you end up with a hung jury, a jury that cannot reach a verdict. And then this truly does just get kicked to the voters to decide.”
Legal analysts on MSNBC, however, were all but certain that Trump would be found guilty by the New York jury.
Anti-Trump attorney George Conway claimed that the evidence was stacked against the former president and it would be hard for the jury not to convict.
“I don’t think they can get an acquittal. I don’t think they’re going to get 12 votes unanimously to acquit him,” Conway told MSNBC’s Katie Phang on Saturday. “I think their best shot, and that’s what they’re going to do, is hope that there’s just some person on the jury who refuses to convict.”
Former US Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal also argued the prosecution had a “common sense” case against the former president and predicted that it was highly likely he would be convicted.
“I suspect that it’s going to be successful,” he told host Jen Psaki on her Sunday MSNBC show.
The case stems from a hush money payment Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in 2016 over an alleged affair she had with him in 2006.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains his innocence. He has also denied any affair with Daniels. The prosecution has tried to prove Trump authorized the payments and covered them up as part of a scheme to save his 2016 election hopes.
Democratic and Republican pollsters who spoke with Fox News Digital claimed a conviction or acquittal wasn’t likely to make any difference with voters because Americans’ beliefs about the two candidates are baked in.
According to a recent Quinnipiac University survey, 62% of registered voters surveyed said a guilty verdict would make no difference to their vote for president. Fifteen percent said it would make them more likely to cast a ballot for Trump, and 21% said it would make them less likely to vote for the former president.
Americans from all over the country gave a blunt assessment of the New York trial last week in remarks to Fox News Digital, going so far as to call the case a “total farce.”
“It sounds like it’s a kangaroo court, actually,” Brad, from Clovis, California said. “I think it’s a total farce. If it’s not thrown out, I’d be shocked.”
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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