LOS ANGELES.–Preaching to the choir on anti-Trump CNN and MSNBC, 63-year-old former FBI James Comey goes out on a limb saying Trump would be convicted in his Manhattan hush money trial. Comey cites the ordinary stats about convictions, acquittals, hung juries, mistrials, etc. to predict Trump’s conviction. But Comey forgets one thing, that Trump is no ordinary defendant, knowing that any jury seeking to convict him is under far more scrutiny that ordinary criminal trials. Comey tells CNN’s Anderson Cooper, another Trump hater, that he sees a Trump conviction, telling Cooper what he wants to hear. “I think it’s highly likely to result in conviction,” Comey told Cooper. “A small possibility I think of a hung jury. I think there almost no possibility of acquittal . . . “ Comey said, saying you only know the likely outcome when you’re actually prosecuting a case.
Comey assumes that witnesses don’t count in criminal trials, only evidence presented by prosecutors. So, if that were true, why would Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, 50, use Michael Cohen as his star witness? Comey assumes a jury doesn’t take into account the credibility of witnesses in attempting to weigh the prosecutor’s case. Whatever the evidence presented, including emails, texts and audiotape, jurors must believe the prosecutor’s case or risk a hung jury where one or more jurors cannot vote to convict. “Again, I’ve tried a lot of cases, you can’t know a case fully unless you’ve tried it or been in the courtroom for every second,” Comey told Cooper, forgetting how Bragg’s case against Trump is different. “Hung juries are rare,” Comey said, about 6.2% of criminal cases, at least according to the best data available. Comey still thinks there’s a 80% chance of conviction.
Jurors completed the trial not knowing the specific charges against Trump related to campaign finance laws. Jurors don’t know the intricacies of election law to know how a payment to Stormy Daniels violates the law. All they know is that former President Donald Trump’s lawyer arranged to get Stormy paid $130,000 to keep her from going public about an alleged one-night stand with Trump in 2006, ten years before he ran for president. “They are rare, but it only requires one juror to say I’m not quite there and to hold out, so that why I say a small possibility, a real possibility, given my experience. I would say 80% chance of conviction, given the case they’re put together,” Comey said, insisting the evidence presented outweighs and of the contradictory testimony by Cohen or Stormy. Jurors have heard many things from the prosecution but ultimately depend on key witnesses.
Comey is hardly one to be advising CNN or MSNBC on the outcome of criminal trials. Comey, after all, sent the case against Trump to Special Counsel Robert Mueller back in 2017, alleging that Trump was a Russian asset. Comey never questioned former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s paid opposition research against Trump. Her fake Steele Dossier accused Trump of betraying in country, of espionage, with the Kremlin. Comey used Hillary’s bogus dossier as “probable cause” to open a counterintelligence investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign. When Comey handed his case to Special Counsel Robert Muller in 2017, he knew it was based on Hillary’s fake probable cause. Yet Mueller wasted 22-month and $40 million to find out there was no case against Trump. Now Comey wants everyone to believe him today.
Citing cases from ordinary criminal trials don’t apply to Trump’s case where the government’s burden of proof is much higher. “Yeah, I think they’ve built a case that was not subject to cross-examination, really. It’s based on documents and texts and emails, the words of the defendants an they presented their most controversial witness, the cooperating bag man,” Comey said referring to Michael Cohen. Comey can’t possibly think that Cohen is incidental to the case when the government got its hard evidence from a convicted perjurer, whose law license stripped because of multiple felony convictions. Comey acts like Cohen holds the same credibility as any other witness, when Bragg relies so heavily on his evidence. What can a jury think of Trump’s former attorney who joined Bragg’s case for the purpose of retaliating against his former boss?
Comey preaches to the choir on Trump-hating CNN and MSNBC, all trying-and-convicting Trump on the airwaves for the past year. Liberal TV shows like to hear from turncoat Republicans with an ax to grind against Trump. Comey has an ax to grind against Trump after he was fired May 8, 2017 for leaking fake news to the press and illegally opening a counterintelligence investigation into Trump and his 2016 campaign. Comey fears that if Trump wins the White House in November, he would appoint an Attorney General of go after Comey and other former Obama White House officials that joined the fight against Trump’s 2016 campaign. Comey said he wasn’t concerned about a right wing uprising if Trump gets convicted of 34 felonies in Manhattan. Comey likes all the media attention, but, most importantly, must stop Trump from winning this fall.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
