Former Sen. Claire McCaskill Exposes Trump’s New Court Whine For What It Really Is

LOADING ERROR LOADING Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D Mo.) on Monday busted Donald Trump ’s claim in a recent fundraising email that he’s being “forced off the campaign trail and into courtrooms” this week. Trump will be the subject of two developments in court as oral arguments start Tuesday when his attorneys will argue presidential immunity in his election interference case and final arguments begin Thursday in his civil fraud trial in New York.

Advertisement But McCaskill, appearing in her role as an analyst on MSNBC , pointed out Trump is “attending these events not because he needs to, not because he has to, not because it’s in his legal best interests, but because he wants the coverage this week leading up to Iowa to be all about his narrative that he is a victim of government weaponization against him, that ‘They’re trying to keep me out of office, they’re trying to keep me from fighting for you.’” Trump is “looking at the Iowa caucuses as his moment to definitively become the nominee,” she said.

“We’re going to talk more about these events if he’s there, and he knows that,” McCaskill continued. “This is all political strategy on his point, it has nothing to do with his legal peril. It has everything with him wanting to become president. Because you know what? These arguments he’s making in front of these federal judges, if he’s president it all goes away, he waves a wand and there’s no more federal prosecution against him, no more convictions against him, nothing.” Trump sees the courtroom appearances as “essential campaign stops,” she added.

MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin had agreed. “They’re not obligations,” said Rubin. “In fact, in none of these circumstances does former President Trump have to attend at all to the extent that he and his proxies are characterizing these as requirements or obligations.” Advertisement Trump will attend the immunity claim appeal “solely as a spectator to the extent he makes political hay out of it outside the courtroom” and has “no formal role” there,” she said.

In the civil trial, Trump “has no role there” either, Rubin added. “It’s a series of arguments or presentations that will be made to Judge Arthur Engoron that was a nonjury trial,” she said. “Presumably, when it’s over or on breaks, we can expect the former president to do what he’s done all along in that case, which is to face cameras in the courtroom hallway and turn that into somewhere between a runway and ongoing fundraiser as it goes along.” Support HuffPost The Stakes Have Never Been Higher At HuffPost, we believe that everyone needs high quality journalism, but we understand that not everyone can afford to pay for expensive news subscriptions.

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