‘This Was a Big One!’ Maggie Haberman Says New Trump Immunity Denial ‘Will Be Tough To Get Thrown Out’

New York Times correspondent and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman said it will be “tough” for ex-President Donald Trump to get a new ruling denying his immunity claim thrown out by a higher court — even the Supreme Court.

On Friday night, Federal District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan denied two motions to dismiss from Trump’s team, based on First Amendment and presidential immunity claims.

Later, Haberman was a guest on Friday night’s edition of CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, where she joined host Anderson Cooper and guest Caroline Polisi to discuss the breaking news.

COOPER: How big, Maggie, of a blow to the former president is this?

MAGGIE HABERMAN: Look, it was always a long shot that this was going to go through or that Chutkan was going to rule on his side. She’s made very clear on previous rulings how she views some of the claims that Trump has been making or his lawyers have been making.

But what this does do is it starts the clock on an appeal, that they are going to go through the courts, possibly go up to the Supreme Court. No one knows how the Supreme Court will rule, if they will even take it up. They don’t have to.

They have generally not sided with Trump on any of his election- related issues. They obviously have on other issues. If they send this back or if they rule against him, the clock then starts on the trial, but this buys time for his team.

So this is not a surprising ruling, but it is a very, very lengthy ruling. And it refers to the Nixon Pardon. It refers to a number of things that counter what Trump’s team is arguing.

COOPER: Caroline, what stood out to you in these rulings?

CAROLINE POLISI: Yes, I think, look, earlier today when the DC circuit came out with the ruling with respect to the civil context, that was an easier bar to meet. Presidential immunity is really, you know, a thing that has been recognized by the Supreme Court since Nixon v. Fitzgerald. Trump was trying to push it further in the criminal context, not surprising that Chutkan waited, I think, for sort of her superiors to come out with the ruling this afternoon.

And then immediately — I agree with Maggie — I think she wants to keep that March 4th trial date. This is the one thing that could potentially throw a wrench in those plans. If the case is somehow stayed, pending an appeal, certainly I think he certainly will appeal this ruling, as well as the DC circuit ruling. And I think it is rife for a Supreme Court review.

COOPER: So do you think it’s likely it would be stayed?

POLISI: You know, just as Maggie was saying, you’ll never know what the Supreme Court is going to do. They can take it, they cannot. They could stay, they could not. But I think that that is sort of the question mark here with respect to — it’s looking more and more like that’s going to be the only trial that will sort of get in under the gun before the election.

COOPER: Is it clear to you, Maggie, what other arguments the president might make to try to get this thrown out?

HABERMAN: I think this was a big one. I think getting it — I think getting it thrown out is going to be very, very hard. This was really it. This was the shot.

It’s possible someone was suggesting to me today that the Supreme Court could take up the gag order issue that seems a little less likely than this one because it’s a presidential power issue and it’s a little broader, that the other one is specific to Trump as a defendant. I think this is it in terms of their shot of getting it thrown out

entirely. Next up becomes just, you know, trying for an acquittal or trying for a hung jury or — those are their best hope.

This is a case that being tried in DC, Trump’s allies and advisers think is unlikely to go his way just based on the events and based on what the jury pool will be, but that’s down the road.

Watch above via Anderson Cooper 360.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!