Former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Catherine Christian said she will closely monitor former President Trump’s behavior during his first criminal trial, scheduled for Monday.
Christian noted that unlike his previous civil trials, Trump “will have to sit there” and hear the things he may not want to.
“I will be monitoring Donald Trump’s behavior,” Christian said Saturday on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press Now.” “Unlike E. Jean Carroll’s civil case, where he stood up and left the courtroom because he didn’t like what he heard, he can’t do that in a trial criminal. Nobody can do that.
“None of the prosecutors, the defense attorneys or Donald Trump,” she continued. “He’s going to have to sit there.” He will only be able to leave when there is a break.
Despite his attempts to delay the case until after the November election, Trump’s secret trial is set to begin Monday with jury selection. The high-profile case will draw eyes to the courtroom as the first criminal trial of a former president.
The case is expected to have two key witnesses: adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Trump fixer Michael Cohen. The case alleges that the former president illegally falsified business records by reimbursing Cohen for paying Daniels to cover up an alleged affair before the 2016 presidential election.
Trump attacked Judge Juan Merchan, his daughter and others involved in the case, even after being slapped with a gag order. Christian wondered on air whether Trump “would be able to remember” the order during the trial if he got upset.
“Will he be able to refrain from doing this? Will he be able to refrain from making statements about potential witnesses? Will he be able to refrain from making statements about the (prosecutor’s) staff? she questioned.
“He’s going to hear things that are probably going to irritate him and … at lunch break and at the end of the day, there will be cameras and microphones in front of him,” Christian said.
The former president was asked about the impending trial Friday during a joint news conference with House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) at his Mar-a-Lago resort. Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee for the White House, said jury selection would be “largely a matter of luck” and said he would “absolutely” testify if asked.
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