CNN Legal Analyst Elie Honig: Trump’s ‘Desperate’ Trial Strategy Shows He’s ‘Already Lost’

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig argued that former President Donald Trump’s legal strategy in the ongoing fraud trail threatening his business was that of a man who had “already lost” while previewing Trump’s scheduled appearance on the witness stand on Monday.

The conversation began with CNN’s John Berman asking former prosecutor Jeremy Saland about the possibility of Trump intentionally antagonizing Judge Arthur Engoron, whose motives, integrity, and competence have been repeatedly called into question by the former president.

Saland suggested that while this would normally never be an advisable course, it could in this case be a “double win” for Trump, who could benefit politically and potentially cause Engoron to make a costly mistake.

Kate Bolduan then turned to Honig to ask how it was “possible” for Trump to embrace such a strategy.

“I’m not sure it’s a conservative strategy, lowercase c, but it’s a strategy when you’re desperate, when you’ve already lost, as Donald Trump has, right? One of the counts the judge has already found against Donald Trump on the persistent fraud count. This is going to be a test for this judge as well, because the judge has to resist taking the bait,” answered Honig.

He continued:

And the same Donald Trump has already been poking the judge both in the court proceedings, but also in public and social media. I mean, Donald Trump has said over the top things about the judge — technically does not violate the gag order because the gag order only applies to the judge’s staff — but this judge is going to have to sort of find a sweet spot here between on the one hand, keeping Donald Trump in line, not letting Donald Trump make this trial into a circus. But on the other hand, not sort of lashing out at Donald Trump, not making a potentially incorrect ruling against Donald Trump just in the heat of the moment. So I’m going to watch the judge here.

Watch above via CNN.