'I'm turning on this one': Bill Maher reveals he thinks Trump could lose hush money case
Bill Maher has previously criticized the hush money cover-up case against Donald Trump, but he said on Friday night that he now believes Trump could lose at trial.
Maher, who recently interviewed conservative pundit Piers Morgan about Trump, told former CNN host Don Lemon that he has "always been against" the criminal case accusing Trump of hiding payments to an adult film star for the purposes of affecting the 2016 election.
"Because I thought, of all the ones you are bringing, this is going the least serious," Maher said, adding that he went as far as to write editorials about it. "Now I think Trump could lose. I'm turning on this one, because it's not what I thought it was gonna be."
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Lemon responded that this one "could take him down," and noted that the ex-president "looks small."
"He looks diminished," Lemon said of Trump at trial.
Maher went on to note that witness David Pecker, the head of the tabloid accused of orchestrating "catch-and-kill" schemes for the then-candidate is "not covering up anything," and is confirming Trump did it for the election and not his family.
"This is the key thing, and it's so clear, I think even a jury of Americans could get this," Maher tells Lemon.
Lemon then points out that Pecker still sees Trump as a mentor and as a friend.
"Now for you to testify against a mentor and a friend, it's gotta be true," Lemon says.
Maher adds that, if that's what happens, it will have huge consequences politically.
"If this goes that way and Trump loses, it's going to change the whole election," he said. "A significant number of independents and Republicans say their vote will change if he's a convicted criminal, and he'll look like a loser, not that he doesn't already."
He then added:
"And Alvin Bragg is gonna be the rising star of the Democratic party, because everyone said not a good idea, including me," Maher said.