Trump Will Use Mentor’s Tactics to Bully Hush Money Jury, Al Sharpton Says: ‘Playing the Roy Cohn Card’ | Video
Rev. Al Sharpton reminded “Morning Joe” of Trump’s mentorship under Roy Cohn, suggesting he will likely draw lessons from the late political fixer’s toolbox to “bully” and manipulate hush-money trial jurors.
“He’s on his Roy Cohn mentorship right now, which [means] you always look to find one or two of the jurors that can even hang the jury or get you an acquittal,” Sharpton said. “This is why he’s sitting there when he could stay awake, trying to stare at the jury, and he’s trying to see the prospective jurors, trying to see what kind of rhythm he could get with who may ultimately sit in that box. He’s going to be playing his Roy Cohn card all through the trial, trying to use his facial expressions and other things to try to discredit without saying anything.”
Cohn, a lawyer, politician and fixer whose bullying methods earned him the reputation fo “an intimidator and a bluffer” according to Politico, mentored the young Donald Trump. Sharpton says he has noticed behaviors passed between mentor and mentee.
Cohn tested HIV-positive late in 1984, and two years later he died. A documentary about the late politician revisited his reputation and tactics for attracting “rich men who were not quite respectable.”
Sharpton asked Chuck Rosenberg how a judge might counter these tactics that Trump will try to use to get out of going to jail. For his trial, the jury decision needs to be unanimous, meaning even if one or two people or any result of mixed votes results, it would result in a mistrial, which would stall for time for Trump.
“Having a mistrial would be a wonderful outcome for Mr. Trump, not a conclusive outcome, but a wonderful outcome. It means that if there’s another trial, it’s months and months away, and he might be president again by then,” Rosenberg said. “So, you know, that is a hard task for a prosecutor to eliminate from the jury pool anybody who has a hidden agenda. By definition, hidden agendas are hidden. And so the voir dire process is an attempt to try and pierce that veil but it’s not perfect.”
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