Jurors in former President Donald Trump‘s hush-money trial in New York City “should have been sequestered” over the Memorial Day weekend, his legal spokeswoman Alina Habba said on Sunday.
Habba used an appearance on “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News to warn that members of the jury could be improperly influenced by people with “Trump Derangement Syndrome” during the holiday period.
She made the assertion in the middle of giving a “counter-argument” to guest host Sean Duffy, who suggested that the break until closing arguments on Tuesday could avert the possibility of jurors wanting to make a rushed verdict to get on with their Memorial Day plans.
Trump Lawyer Alina Habba: Jury “Should Have Been Sequestered” Over Memorial Day Weekendhttps://t.co/dYTmQ0ytcq
“For them to be out and about on a holiday weekend, with friends and families who have opinions, watching news, the TV is on in the background at the pool party…” pic.twitter.com/jKnlHYeMTM
— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) May 26, 2024
“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.
Habba added, “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 law to 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.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to allegedly cover up payments in a bid to conceal damaging information 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.
A paralegal and Robert Costello, a lawyer who advised former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, served as the only two witnesses for the defense. Trump’s lawyers had also wanted campaign finance expert Bradley Smith to testify, but he did not take the stand after the judge placed limits on what he could say.
Prosecutors, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, presented 20 witnesses and more than 200 exhibits over several weeks of testimony. Their star witnesses included adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who allegedly had a tryst with Trump in 2006 (a claim the former president denies), and Cohen, who facilitated a $130,000 payment to Daniels to keep her quiet.
Trump, who claims he is facing “political persecution,” is currently trying to fend off three other criminal matters on the state and federal levels as he runs for another term in the White House.
