WATCH: CNN Legal Analyst Defies Bragg Critics To Lay Out Why Case Against Trump Is Strong
Freshly-hired CNN legal analyst and former Chief Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office Karen Friedman Agnifilo pushed back on the flood of critics who say Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against ex-President Donald Trump is weak.
Trump traveled to New York Tuesday for his arraignment in a Manhattan courtroom, during which Bragg’s indictment was unsealed and the 34 felony counts against Trump were revealed. The defendant entered pleas of “not guilty” to crimes involving hush money payments to adult entertainment entrepreneur Stormy Daniels and others, and left the courthouse without answering questions.
DA Bagg held a press conference following the court appearance, during which he defended his case from an onslaught of questions from reporters. In addition to Trump allies, there were many pundits weighing in to criticize the strength of Bragg’s case — including on CNN.
But on Wednesday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Agnifilo and CNN commentator Errol Louis joined co-anchors Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlan Collins to talk about her new column with Norm Eisen, whose title says it all: “We Finally Know the Case Against Trump, and It Is Strong.”
Agnofilo explained why she’s going against the grain of so much of the punditry about the case:
POPPY HARLOW: Let me just start with you. Your piece in The Times this morning with Norm Eisen is really interesting. The headline is “We finally know the case against Trump and it’s strong.” That’s a different position than even some of Trump’s most vehement opponents. You say this is weak. I think we can agree it’s incomplete, right, Because we don’t know what that underlying crime is that Barack is pointing to. But why do you think it’s so strong?
KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO: I think it’s strong because in addition to the indictment that was filed, they also filed a statement of facts which…
POPPY HARLOW: Thirteen pages.
KAREN FRIEDMAN AGNIFILO: Yeah, 13 pages of a statement of facts really details the evidence and the charges and the theory of the case against him. And it’s clear that they have a lot of corroboration here. You’ve got not just the word of Michael Cohen, you’ve got Michael Cohen, you’ve got David Pecker, who was the CEO of AMI that owns the National Enquirer. And they had a conspiracy, the three of them, to catch and kill negative stories during the time of the presidential election. And it’s and they have proof. They have emails, text messages, recordings. And so, and the timing really shows that that’s the case. And so I think when you put it all together from an evidentiary purpose, I think it’s a very strong case that, of course, there are legal arguments that can be made and challenges by the defense. And we haven’t seen the witnesses testify under oath and be cross-examined yet. But that’s typical of every case. Just from a, from what we know now standpoint, it’s certainly as strong as any other case that gets brought in state courts in New York.
KAITLAN COLLINS: And I think it’s important what you note, that the conviction for the Trump Organization, for Allen Weisselberg, who was the chief financial officer for the Trump Organization, that’s who Trump keeps referencing, were business falsification, were part of those charges and those convictions.
Agnofilo and Louis went on to knock down other criticisms that have been levelled against Braggs case, including the previous prosecutors who failed to pursue these charges.
Watch above via CNN This Morning.
