Jury consultant Robert Hirschhorn told CNN on Monday that the prosecution’s lack of evidence in former President Donald Trump’s trial so far is a major issue that could lead to a “not guilty” verdict despite the likelihood of the jury being largely Democratic because of the Manhattan venue.
Former Trump Organization controller Jeffrey McConney testified on Monday, asserting that Trump never directed him to falsify documents under cross examination by the defense.
McConney is yet another witness who has not proven direct involvement by the former president, with Hirschhorn saying even a Democratic jury is likely to acquit Trump if the prosecution does not eventually offer more compelling evidence.
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“Cases are won and lost on cross-examination, not direct examination,” Hirschhorn told host Kaitlan Collins.
“And the fact that this witness said that he never had direction from Trump to falsify any records, that’s a huge problem for the prosecution’s case,” he added.
Witness testimony has yet to establish critical portions of prosecutors’ claims related to their efforts to prove Trump falsified business documents relating to his former attorney Michael Cohen’s $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to be quiet regarding claims of a “sexual encounter.” Prosecutors allege the payment ahead of the 2016 election was part of a “conspiracy” to influence its outcome.
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“This is the only person the prosecution could have to talk about the accounting side, at least so far,” Hirschhorn said about McConney. “He’s the highest one up so far from the Trump org side. He has not provided, Kaitlan, that crucial link between the crime and the defendant’s either knowledge about it or ordering that the documents be falsified. It’s a big problem, and I‘m telling you, if they don’t fix this problem, what you’re looking at is this kind of verdict, right here of a not guilty, even from a predominantly Democratic jury. They have to follow the evidence in the case. And if the state doesn’t link all this up, you‘re coming in with a not guilty.”
First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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