Rachel Maddow unloaded on Donald Trump on Monday, blowing the lid off his repeated efforts to trash the prosecution and influence the jury in the ongoing Paul Manafort trial.
The MSNBC host questioned the judge for not taking the extraordinary measure of sequestering the jury until they reached a verdict.
“Given the very unusual fire hose of public invective from the sitting president of the United States that he is directing at this case on a daily basis, clearly trying to influence the verdict of the jury, is this one of those rare cases where the jury should have actually been sequestered?” Maddow asked.
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#Maddow explains how the jury may be influenced in the ongoing Paul Manafort trial. #ctl #p2 #Trump #Manafort pic.twitter.com/QR1i4qcn1b
— PoliticusUSA (@politicususa) August 21, 2018
Maddow explained:
From the start of the trial, the president of the United States has repeatedly made public statements praising the defendant. Saying the defendant is being mistreated. Calling his prosecution sad. And on the other side, every day, and sometimes two, three, four, five, six times a day, the president makes public statements in writing and out loud denouncing the prosecution in this case. He’s been praising the defendant, Paul Manafort, and he’s been denouncing the prosecution. The special counsel’s office. The president daily denounces the special counsel’s office now in terms that are so stark it might reasonably be very difficult for jurors to avoid seeing any mention of the fact that the president has been calling the prosecutors in this case, quote, a national disgrace. Calling them angry Democrat thugs that are ruining peoples’ lives. Saying this is a rigged investigation. The president deriding Robert Mueller and the special counsel’s office is him deriding the prosecution in this case. Presidents in the past have taken care to avoid weighing in on any pending criminal cases so as to avoid even the appearance of influence on jury deliberations or any other aspect of a pending case. In this case, with this president, it is totally the opposite. He is absolutely trying to influence the case. And I know it is rare to sequester a jury, to put a jury in a hotel and not give them any contact with their homes or the outside world until they’ve got a verdict. I know it’s rare to do that, but given the very unusual fire hose of public invective from the sitting president of the United States that he is directing at this case on a daily basis, clearly trying to influence the verdict of the jury, is this one of those rare cases where the jury should have actually been sequestered?
Don’t be fooled: Trump is terrified by the Manafort trial
The staunchest of Trump’s defenders have done their best to distance themselves from the Manafort trial, but the president’s own behavior demonstrates just how afraid of it he is.
While there are aspects of the trial that are separate from Manafort’s relationship to Trump, there are some important connections between the two that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Not to mention: Trump knows that a win for Robert Mueller’s team in the Manafort case would add even more credibility to the ongoing special counsel investigation. It would further shatter Trump’s myth that the probe is a witchhunt.
As Mueller hands down more charges and indictments, Trump is increasingly panicked. Seeing his former campaign manager sent to prison would likely push him even further over the edge.
That’s why Trump has been working tirelessly to indirectly influence the jury in the Manafort case – a jury, as Maddow points out, that probably should have been sequestered.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
