Ex-Trump Lawyer Explains How GOP Stooges Could Hurt The Case More Than Anything

The courtroom attendance of Donald Trump’s GOP sycophants during the ex-president’s hush money trial may end up doing Trump more harm than good, a former lawyer for the presumptive GOP nominee said Wednesday.

Tim Parlatore told CNN’s Brianna Keilar that he didn’t know “how effective” the shows of support from high-profile Republicans such as Sen. J.D. Vance (Ohio) and former 2024 presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy would be with the jury.

“I heard that there was an incident where a couple of elected officials walked in, made kind of a bustle, not waiting for a break,” Parlatore recalled.

“I think that when you do that kind of thing, it does have the potential for a negative impact on the jury,” he continued. “I don’t think that doing that kind of theatrics within the courtroom is going to necessarily be helpful, especially when you have the judge who apparently was visibly annoyed by that as well. That also has an effect on the jury.”

Keilar asked Parlatore if he thinks Trump should himself take the stand to counter allegations that he falsified business records to cover up a payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels to silence her over their alleged affair. Trump denies the claims.

“I think it’s a possibility [Trump will testify], I think he should not though,” said Parlatore, who was on Trump’s legal team in the classified documents case before he resigned last year. There is “no benefit” for him doing so, he added.

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Parlatore’s assessment was echoed by former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann during an interview with MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace.

“The prosecution is probably hoping he does,” said Weissmann.

“I think it would be a huge mistake,” he argued, but admitted “you never know with Trump.”

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