‘There Are No Appeals, This Thing Is Happening!’ MSNBC’s Alter Says Significance of Trump Criminal Trial Must Not Be ‘Minimized’

Author and MSNBC contributor Jonathan Alter emphasized the “historical significance” of former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial, which is set to begin April 15.

He spoke with Alex Witt on Saturday about the chances of Trump being convicted.

“First of all, people have to understand, we once had a former vice president, Aaron Burr, who was put on trial in a criminal case. He was acquitted of treason in 1806. But we’ve never had a president facing a criminal trial. Think about that for a second,” Alter said. He continued:

You can go, “Oh, this is about a porn star, and how much are people gonna care?” We don’t have an answer to that question, by the way. But, the historical significance of this should not be minimized.

And, also, the danger that Donald Trump is in of being convicted around early June in this case. Because, almost all of the defense motions to the judge, the Trump motions, were denied, and almost all of the prosecution motions, the district attorney’s motions, were granted. So, the table is set here for the Manhattan DA to prosecute a successful case. There’s no sure thing — It’s looking pretty good.

And the other thing is, jury selection starts April 15th. This thing is happening. Trump tried claiming that he could appeal, and there are no appeals. This thing is happening 100%, starting on April 15th.

Alter said that by “shutting up Stormy Daniels” with $130,000 in hush money, Trump “prevented a revelation that very likely would have cost him that election against Hillary Clinton.

“You have to remember the timing of this, which is that there had been the ‘Access Hollywood’ revelation, which sent Trump reeling. He recovered from that, and the spotlight shifted to Hillary, and these stories about her emails. If the Stormy Daniels story had come out right on top of the “Access Hollywood” story, there’s nobody in either party who believes Donald Trump could have survived that.”

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.

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