‘Extraordinary Victory’: CNN’s Paula Reid Stunned Trump’s Legal Team Kept Client From Facing ‘Any Consequences’ In Four Cases

CNN legal correspondent Paula Reid joined anchor Jim Acosta on Friday to comment on breaking news that President-elect Donald Trump was giving an “unconditional discharge” as his sentence in the New York hush-money case.

“Paula, your thoughts on what we just witnessed? Pretty extraordinary stuff,” began Acosta, adding:

Not just the sentence of an unconditional release, which means he’s not going to do any jail time. The fact that he is going to be going into the White House as a convicted felon, but the fact that he appeared virtually in those stunning images we just saw a few moments ago of him appearing in the courtroom on a flat screen in front of the judge, with his attorney by his side and the flags behind them.

“Yeah, just zoom out here, big picture. Six months ago, he faced four criminal cases. He had been convicted in New York hush-money case, which was considered the least serious of the four,” Reid replied, adding:

And now, even though he has been convicted, he has received really no punishment there. The two federal cases against him have been dismissed. And the Georgia case, the prosecutor has been disqualified. That case is not completely dead, but it’s basically on life support. I mean, if we look at his legal defense team, this is an extraordinary victory.

Now, they got a couple of big assists from the Supreme Court over the course of the last two years. But the fact that they have been able to keep their client from really facing any consequences across four criminal cases is truly extraordinary. And today is really the symbol of their successful defense of their client.

Notably, in 2018 Michael Cohen was sentenced to prison for three years for making the hush money payments at the heart of the Trump conviction. Cohen, Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and company executive, went on to testify in court that Trump directed him to make those payments.

Acosta turned to Laura Coates after Reid for more on what Trump’s sentence means.

“Many people are looking at whether there are two systems of justice in America. I got to tell you, Donald Trump right now is a little in a league of his own for the reasons that my colleagues have described, but an unconditional release,” Coates said, concluding:

Normally, if somebody is capable of a crime and does not have a jail sentence imposed, a probationary period comes in. There checking in with a probation officer, they may have to engage in drug testing. They may have to have certain jobs or endeavor to have them community service.

They have to keep their nose clean. You’ve heard that said, in order to make sure that they don’t have the ability to be actually brought into a jail. Donald Trump doesn’t have any of those conditions. The condition he now has is to maintain his role as the commander-in-chief and president of the United States.

Watch the clip above via CNN.