Alright let's continue our
discussion of Tuesday's
arraignment of former president
trump joining me again. CNN
contributor John Dean, former
Nixon white house counsel and
CNN legal analyst and former
white house ethics are norm
Eisen. You know, norm before we
went to the break. You know, I
wanted to get into the
sequencing of these cases in a
lot has been said about well the
Manhattan da's case is not as
important as the January 6th
case that the special counsel's
looking into it. So what is your
take on the sequencing of all of
this and the strength of the
Brad case, the D. A S case in
Manhattan gym. We looked at
these hush money allegations in
the impeachment because they are
matters that impact our
democracy in a fundamental way.
You might say the impact of the
2016 alleged financial fraud to
cover up the payment of hush
money was actually more
impactful. The attempted coup of
2020 didn't change the outcome
in the wake of access Hollywood
, another sex scandal could have
altered an election that was
decided by a little over 70,000
votes in three states. Okay so
this is a very important case.
In terms of sequencing.
Prosecutors don't orchestrate.
Uh these cases like the NFL
picking which playoff game and
what order? They look at the
facts. They look at the law when
they're ready to go. They go.
Alvin Bragg decided he was ready
. He's not thinking about the
those other cases. He's not
thinking about the politics, nor
should he. His job is to apply
the facts to the law as he would
with any other defendant. A lot
of other people have been
prosecuted in New York for this
identical conduct. Falsifying
financial records to cover up
illicit campaign contributions.
And John you know, a lot has
been made of what this means for
trump what this means for the
presidency. What about what this
means for the rule of law? And
the idea that even the president
of the United States should be
held accountable. If he's broken
the law, you are intimately
familiar with that subject
matter. What are your thoughts
on that? Well I think it's vital
for that reason that this be
done fairly and fully and I'm
one who has a kind of a distant
hope that they might even
televise these proceedings that
the argument can be made in
front of this judge to make a
broader audience because I think
the rule of lawyers at issue
here and with trump playing with
the process and belittling the
process in particular even puts
more emphasis on the importance
of a proper process, and that's
what this D a is doing. He's
following it by the book. Mr
trump doesn't play by the same
rules everybody else so he's not
playing by the book and he's
he's you know, going to give a
speech, apparently after he is
arraigned when it gets back to
two. Is a state in Florida. So
good idea the rule of law. It's
foundational to our democracy,
and all of these proceedings are
going to test it. Yeah good idea
, John for I mean, from a
defense attorney standpoint, a
good a good idea for the for the
former president, go out there
and give a speech at bar Lago
right after the arraignment. I
mean, it sounds like yet another
setting where he may poke this
judge in the eye. I can't
imagine his defense team thinks
this is a good idea. Terrible
idea, and he is so loose and
foolish make calls, cause his
own jeopardy and increases
jeopardy. So uh, you know, it
will be good theater. It will
not be a good good defense. Yeah
norm. What about what John was
saying? I mean about this
potential for the case to be
televised? Isn't there an
argument to be made, and several
news organizations have made
that argument? We're always
making the argument for more
access in a televised things,
but that the trial of a former
president on whatever the case
may be is so significant and so
important. How can you not
televise it? I certainly
favorite Jim. Look I was the
ethics are transparency was part
of my job and we maximized
transparency. Judge Marshawn is
not exactly cut from that cloth
. He's not known to be one who
he's a very fair judge, and he's
a very tough judge, but he wants
to keep control of his courtroom
. That's not always easy in the
colorful. Um um, human panoply
that is New York City criminal
practice. I've tried cases in
New York City and let me tell
you it can turn into a media
circus. So I'm guessing we're
not going to see that kind of
transparency. In this case. I
will say, though, I'll take a
bit of a contrary in view,
Donald Trump is not only trying
this case in a court of law. He
is also trying this case in the
court of public opinion. And he
is going to attempt to make
lemonade out of the lemons by
appealing he's you know. In a
presidential primary. He is
going to use this to attempt to
drive forward in the impeachment
. We found every time we did
something big. His numbers would
go up. Then they would come back
down again as people realize the
severity, so he's going to try
to milk this. I think ultimately
this and the other cases are
going to be a net negative for
him in the primary, but he's
going to try to make the most of
them. John I mean, I guess it
goes without saying that Donald
Trump is going to attempt to
turn this courtroom into yet
another rally venue like an
amphitheater in Des Moines,
Iowa, or something like that,
and he is going to try to
maximize this moment. They've
already bragged that they've
raised the money, which, of
course, helps them. You know for
the Republican nomination
doesn't do him a whole lot of
good for the general election
because I don't see how this
makes it more palatable to a
general election audience, but
he is going to try to he's going
to try to monopolize and
capitalize on this. And he has a
full chorus when he does that,
with the Republican party. It's
been quite striking the way
they've stepped forward to
support is doing whatever he
wants to do and claiming.
There's nothing criminal here.
They talk about even the fact
that he's been indicted as some
sort of terrible act of
political nature by a prosecutor
who makes his living and
protects New York by doing just
what he's doing here. Ah the
people of New York and in the
country are entitled to a fair
trial, as is Donald Trump. And
so I'm hoping again. This judge
is tough as as Norman finds him
to be, and makes everybody
played by the rules. It'll be
interesting to see if, uh, how
this judge handles Donald Trump
in the courtroom. That might be