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Salon
Salon
Politics
Gabriella Ferrigine

Trump comments a "gift" to prosecutors

Former President Donald Trump's repeated statements about his mounting legal woes could compound his problems, legal experts say.

Former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg told MSNBC that Trump is a "prosecutor's dream and a defense attorney's nightmare."

"Any good defense attorney is going to tell a target of a criminal investigation to stop talking; anything you say and will be used against you," Greenberg said, responding to the former president's CNN town hall last week. "Donald Trump seems incapable of doing that."

"He made numerous incriminating statements in a number of criminal investigations that are pending at the CNN town hall," she added. "If that town hall is any indication, Donald Trump on the campaign trail is going to be the gift that keeps on giving for prosecutors."

Former federal prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner argued on his YouTube channel a number of ways the ex-president complicated his legal woes, calling the town hall a "terrible idea" and criticizing CNN for handing "a microphone and a platform to the man who tried to end American democracy."

Moderator Kaitlan Collins during the event pressed Trump on whether he had shown any documents to anyone else.

"Not really," Trump responded. "I would have the right to, but not that I can think of.'"

Kirschner argued that Trump "dug his legal grave deeper" with the statement.

"I predict those incriminating statements will be introduced into evidence at the future trial of the United States of America versus Donald Trump," he said. 

Kirschner added that Trump had also "incriminated himself" in connection with the Fulton County district attorney probe into his efforts to overturn the election.

Trump during the town hall defended his call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn his loss, falsely claiming that the election was "rigged" and that the election official "owed" him votes.

Trump also attacked and mocked longtime columnist E. Jean Carroll just one day after a jury awarded her $5 million in damages after finding Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming her.

"Trump will not be deterred by a jury's verdict or punitive damages. Donald Trump will not be deterred by a judge's admonitions that he shouldn't say things like this. Donald Trump will not be deterred by a judge's protective order or gag order. You know what will deter Donald Trump? A jail cell," Kirschner said.

"Yes, it's taken too long. Yes, we're frustrated. Yes, we're impatient," he added. "Yes, Donald Trump should not be given a microphone and a platform to spew his lies, even if a byproduct of having that microphone, having that platform is he digs his own legal grave deeper because he continues to incriminate himself. That byproduct isn't worth his ability to use that microphone and that platform to continue to spew his lies to our nation's most gullible and most vulnerable. And in some instances most hateful. It is time to deter Donald Trump. Because justice matters."

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