CNN’s Jake Tapper Gets Tripped Up Over Dense Legalese From Trump Trial: ‘Man, Lawyers Do Not Speak English’

In the latest example of “News Anchors Are People Too,” CNN’s Jake Tapper read through some of the jury instructions from former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial and, yes, it was a lot of words in some kind of order that didn’t quite sound like a sentence any normal person would say.

The 12 members of the jury are hours into their deliberations, which began on Wednesday, and they requested to revisit the instructions provided by Judge Juan Merchan. As he relayed the update to viewers, Tapper turned to the members of his intrepid legal panel — Elie Honig, Elliot Williams, and Karen Friedman Agnifilo as well as CNN’s Jamie Gangel and Kasie Hunt — and reacted to the dense language the jury was hearing:

Merchan is right now rereading the definitions in the law for enterprise business record and intent. This all has to do with technical aspects of the charge. “As I previously explained, the person acts with intent to defraud when his or her conscious objective or purpose is to do so. In order to prove an intent to defraud, the people need to prove that the defendant acted with the intent to defraud any particular person or entity. A general intent to defraud any person or entity suffices. Intent to defraud is also not constricted to an intent to deprive another of property or money, and can extend beyond economic concerns.” Man, lawyers do not speak English.

After a laugh, Williams told Tapper there was even more fun legalese to look forward to:

Williams: Oh, wait a second, the next sentence is going to be on intent to commit or conceal another crime. Just you wait, Jake Tapper! It’s going to get pretty real.

Tapper: We’re told by Kara Scannell inside the courtroom that Trump’s chin is resting on his chest. Not clear how awake he is or how much he’s paying attention right now — which, by the way, relatable.

Watch the video above via CNN.