WATCH: Maggie Haberman Throws Gallons of Cold Water on Trump Indictment News
New York Times correspondent, best-selling author, and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman threw a lot of cold water on the news that former President Donald Trump will soon be criminally indicted in the Manhattan hush-money case.
On Thursday, news broke that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s case against Trump over hush money payments to Stormy Daniels may soon result in an indictment based on four New York Times sources.
Trump is also facing Special Counsel Jack Smith-led Justice Department probes into Trump’s mishandling of classified information under the Espionage Act and his conduct surrounding the January 6 insurrection, as well as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ grand jury investigation of former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn election results in Georgia.
On Thursday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, anchor Anderson Cooper asked Haberman to weigh in, and Haberman sounded a cautious note about the “exotic case” against Trump, suggesting a tough road ahead for Bragg:
ANDERSON COOPER: I mean, how do you expect him to react to this? Does it affect his campaign at all?
MAGGIE HABERMAN: So we don’t — we’re entering uncharted territory here. And I think it’s important to note about this case, as Kara said, this is a misdemeanor that they’re trying to push up to a felony. It’s an —
ANDERSON COOPER: Which is a really kind of —
MAGGIE HABERMAN: Exotic, it’s an exotic case. And a judge could decide, no, we’re going to get back to a misdemeanor. That is difficult for a prosecutor when it’s a former president. I understand, you know, justice is supposed to be equal, you know, for all. But, you know, people take into consideration factors like this. I think we could see a rallying effect from his supporters. It could be that more people are turned off by this. I just don’t think we know. We know how he will use it, which is that he will say he’s being attacked and victimized. And we have seen that over and over again. We’re going to continue to.
…
ANDERSON COOPER: And, Maggie, I mean, it’s interesting because, you know, the same office was looking at other potential charges against the former president. They the district attorney chose not to pursue those two of those prosecutors resigned in the wake of that. And this is now what they have.
MAGGIE HABERMAN: Yeah, look, and what I think Michael Cohen would say as a witness, and has said before is that he, you know, he lied on Trump’s behalf. And I think you would hear him say that in this case. You did have Alvin Bragg decide not to bring a prosecution against Trump in connection with his actual business despite proceeding against his business. And they got a conviction across the board in 17 counts in that case, I don’t know. It’s different when you’re prosecuting a faceless company than it is prosecuting a man. I do think it’s worth noting here, putting aside issues of Michael Cohen specifically, or that the prospective thinness of the case, take it all together. It requires 12 people and it just takes one person to have reasonable doubt. And even in pretty progressive Manhattan, I think probably a defense lawyer could find one person. And that’s a risk here.
Haberman has previously said that the Georgia case is the one most likely to land Trump an indictment first.
Watch above via CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
