Alan Dershowitz, Harvard University Law School professor emeritus, told Newsmax on Friday that former President Donald Trump got "a bad jury" in his criminal trial in New York.
On Friday, 12 jurors and six alternate jurors were seated a criminal trial in New York City for Trump over alleged attempts to conceal hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
"This is a bad jury for Donald Trump," Dershowitz said on "Newsline." "I think it's too much of a New York Times, TikTok jury. ... This is maybe the best you can do with a New York jury pool, but it's not a good jury for Donald Trump."
Dershowitz predicted that "the best he's likely to do is a hung jury," and said that while "it's possible" that the jurors could vote to acquit Trump, he "can't imagine" they will.
Dershowitz also commented on the judge's decision not to force prosecutors to release the names of their first three witnesses.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass reportedly refused to say who they were planning to call as their first three witnesses when asked by Trump attorney Todd Blanche, citing Trump's negative comments about witnesses and others involved in the case on social media.
Judge Juan Merchan said in response to the decision, "I can't fault them for that," according to Newsweek.
Dershowitz said that the judge's ruling was "not fair."
"You have a right to prepare, and if I were Trump's lawyers as soon as the name of the first question is going forward, I would call for a recess" and ask for multiple days to prepare questions for cross-examination.
"You can't just call witnesses out of the blue and expect that you'd be ready for cross-examination or objections," Dershowitz said.
He went on to call the gag order imposed on Trump "outrageously unfair," adding that "criticizing is part of the essence of our First Amendment and it should apply to anybody who's playing a role" in the trial.
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