Maggie Haberman Says Trumpworld ‘Happy’ About Fraud Testimony — They Got ‘Trump Lashes Out’ Headlines They Wanted
New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman said former President Donald Trump and his team are “happy” with the way his testimony went because they got the headlines they wanted, instead of headlines about his damaging admissions.
Trump was the star attraction Monday at his trial in the fraud case brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James and presided over by Judge Arthur Engoron. But while Trump made several key admissions on the witness stand, his legal team effusively praised his performance and insisted it went well.
On Tuesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, co-anchor Phil Mattingly asked if Trump’s legal troubles could end up reversing the dynamic suggested in the blockbuster battleground poll that came out over the weekend.
As an aside, Haberman made an important observation about the way Trump’s courtroom antics were covered by the press with headlines like “Trump lashes out, Trump comes out swinging”:
PHIL MATTINGLY: The idea that if he’s convicted, all of a sudden everybody’s going to shift. Biden goes from four or five down and a lot of the swing states to up eight, nine, ten, 11. Do you believe that?
MAGGIE HABERMAN: Well, it’s not everybody. It’s actually a very narrow slice. It’s only 6% of people said that they would flip.
PHIL MATTINGLY: Which is enough to win.
MAGGIE HABERMAN: In a couple of states to change the dynamic. But we are talking about, and Van knows this much better than I do. We are talking about very close presidential races over the last two cycles where, you know, one was settled by 80,000 votes in three states, another was settled by 40,000 votes in three states.
So anything that is marginal can have a real impact. Do I believe that there are some people who would be troubled by seeing Trump convicted and sentenced to prison? That was the question that was asked in the poll. Yes, I do.
Do I believe that people might feel differently in that actuality, depending on what else is happening in the world? Yes, I do. I think we are in such totally uncharted territory.
And I think to Van’s point, what what people are seeing with Trump, and this is part of what Trump was doing with this performance. This was very much about the headlines. His folks felt very good about yesterday. And I don’t actually think that that was bluster because if you look at basically all of the coverage, it’s “Trump lashes out, Trump comes out swinging.”.
It’s not Trump, you know, acknowledges that he had some impact on these statements. And that’s what they’re looking for politically.
VAN JONES: That the big surprise yesterday, blue tie, everything else totally precooked.
PHIL MATTINGLY: In a way that unsettled you or in a way that faith about what’s ahead.
VAN JONES: I agree. I expect him to take responsibility for anything. But the only surprise yesterday he wore a blue tie. I did that. It’s it’s the same Trump show over and over again. And the reason why it’s continuing to work for him politically. All right.
Watch above via CNN This Morning.
