CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig Shuts Down MAGA Guest on the Law: ‘You’re Out of Your Depth Here’
CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig got into a tussle with a MAGA panelist on Friday’s NewsNight, with Honig telling him, “You’re out of your depth here.”
Honig, who occasionally appears as a guest on the show to discuss legal matters, was in the unusual position of guest-hosting the nightly gabfest, where he acted as moderator and, occasionally, combatant.
The show’s panelists discussed remarks from President Donald Trump hours earlier on Long Island, where he held a rally with law enforcement and attacked New York’s chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Letitia James and the failed prosecution against her.
“Crooked Attorney General Letitia James, Trump said. “She is the most dishonest, a real, a real slob, a real slob. You know, they had her. She got off on a technicality. They had her, but she got off on a technicality. But let’s see what happens.”
In October, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted James on one count of bank fraud and one count of making a false statement to a financial institution. The government alleged that James misrepresented facts to obtain more favorable mortgage terms on a property she purchased in Norfolk, Virginia in 2020. That indictment was tossed after a court ruled that the prosecutor in the case, Lindsey Halligan, had been illegally appointed. The DOJ tried two additional times to secure a new indictment, but failed on both occasions.
Honig, a former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, responded to Trump’s remarks by setting the record straight while jousting with former New York City Councilor Joe Borelli:
HONIG: As a reminder, the Justice Department indicted Letitia James. That was thrown out by a federal district court judge. The president calls it a technicality–
BORELLI: Because of the prosecutor.
HONIG: Hold on, hold on.
BORELLI: Be honest. Be honest.
HONIG: Because the prosecutor was unconstitutionally appointed. Then, they tried to indict her again, and a grand jury rejected it, which almost never happens. Take my word for it. And then they tried again–
LAUREN WRIGHT [to BORELLI]: Don’t go up against Elie on this.
HONIG [to BORELLI]: You’re out of your depth here. They tried to go a third time–
BORELLI: They did not evaluate the evidence.
HONIG: They tried to indict her a third time, again rejected by a grand jury. I don’t know that that’s ever happened in history. So should they try a fourth time, Joe?
BORELLI: No, they probably wouldn’t have good luck. But she was– the indictment was thrown out because of a technicality against the prosecutor, not an evaluation of the evidence that you could plainly see her signature on some of the documents. So, you know what? If the president wants to call it her getting out on a technicality, fine. If the president wants to call her a “slob,” it’s not a news flash that the president is not exactly kind to people he doesn’t like.
Watch above via CNN.
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