‘This Will Take Trump Off The Trail’: CNN’s Elie Honig Predicts Criminal Trials Will Upend Trump’s Campaign

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig said ex-President Donald Trump’s criminal trials will “keep him off the trail” as he tries to regain the White House, in an exclusive interview with Mediaite.

The on-air expert and author of Untouchable: How Powerful People Get Away with It joined Mediaite Editor-in-Chief Aidan McLaughlan for a wide-ranging interview on this week’s edition of Mediaite’s The Interview podcast.

Not surprisingly, Trump’s multiple looming criminal trials were the dominant subject, including a key observation by the host and his guest:

ELIE HONIG: Exactly. I mean, do you remember how quickly Kevin McCarthy turned around? McCarthy said he bears responsibility and then he goes down. I wrote about it in my book. Then he goes down to Mar a Lago. His is the ring as these ridiculous pictures where he’s side by side and he and he comes out a new man. Right. And that’s part of the power that Trump has. So I’ll leave the political forecasting to the political folks. But listen, I said the other day on air that– I was on a panel with Van Jones, who’s a, you know, brilliant political mind. And I said “These Trump trials are, to me the dominant, I think are going to be the dominant issue of the 2024 campaign. I don’t know if that’s a good thing for our democracy, but that’s the reality events. And Van said “no, they’re the only issue.”.

AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah.

ELIE HONIG: I mean, look at the coverage. What policy issue has gotten 1/1000 the attention of the Trump trial?

AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN: Not even close.

ELIE HONIG: ..Is anyone talking about what the various candidates positions are on the environment, on the economy, on national defense.

AIDAN MCLAUGHLIN: Is he going to be able to campaign with all these trials going on?

ELIE HONIG: It’s a great question. I mean, no. Now, when you when he had his Carol trial a few months ago, he skipped it because it’s a civil case, you’re allowed. Not a great idea. He lost. I don’t recommend that. But criminal charge, you have to be there. And that’s actually another factor that. Imagine if he has two or three trials back to back that go for six months. He can’t do any of the campaigning stuff. Now he may well get a bigger bang for the buck from having daily outside-the-courthouse pressers. I don’t know. I, I don’t understand the minds of the voters that deeply. But yeah, this will take him off the trail.

Download the full episode here, and subscribe to The Interview on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.