There's 'no way in hell' Trump's bombastic approach to his potential indictment would help him in court: defense attorney
- There's "no way" Trump's reaction to his possible indictment will help him, defense attorneys said.
- Trump "is almost an impossible client" for lawyers, attorney Mark Bederow told Insider.
As a potential indictment looms against Donald Trump, the former US president has gone into an all-out attack mode via social media, calling for protests, and has reportedly mused about smiling for a perp-walk and expressed his want to be paraded around in handcuffs.
But there's no way that Trump's bombastic approach to his possible indictment over allegations of a hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels would help him in a courtroom, criminal defense attorneys not connected to the case told Insider.
"There's no way in hell [Trump's ] lawyers, from a criminal defense standpoint, see this as an advantage," high-profile attorney Mark Bederow told Insider on Thursday, adding that Trump "is almost an impossible client" because "he's going to do whatever he wants."
Bederow, a former prosecutor for the Manhattan district attorney's office, called Trump's recent behavior toward his potential indictment "a terrible look" that demonstrates "instability" and "poor judgment."
The "irrational behavior" by Trump plays in the hands of prosecutors, Bederow said.
"There's no way Trump begging to be perp-walked and handcuffed and demanding that his supporters protest is helping" a potential criminal case, Bederow said. "Why he thinks that helps him, it's beyond me."
"This is lunacy," Bederow continued.
Florida criminal defense attorney and former Justice Department trial attorney Richard Serafini told Insider, "You don't see defendants acting like this, and there's a reason why they don't because there's a tremendous downside."
"You don't want to be in a position where essentially your client has thrown down the gauntlet to the prosecutors and said, 'I dare you to charge me,' which is almost what [Trump's] doing," Serafini added.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has convened an ongoing grand jury to investigate whether to indict Trump over allegations surrounding a $130,000 hush payment that Trump's former lawyer-turned-nemesis, Michael Cohen, says he made at Trump's direction to Daniels during Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
Daniels said she slept with Trump in 2006. Trump has consistently denied the alleged affair with Daniels and claimed that he never paid her hush-money to keep quiet about it.
If the grand jury votes to indict, Trump would become the first former president to face criminal charges.
Trump, who has blasted Bragg's investigation as a "witch hunt," continued his attacks against the Democratic DA on Thursday on his social-media app, Truth Social, calling for his removal, describing him as "a danger" to the country, and accusing him in an all-caps rant of being a "Soros backed animal who just doesn't care about right or wrong."
In commenting on Trump's slam of Bragg as an "animal," Bederow called it yet "another example," saying "there's no way" that the former president's legal team "would condone anything like that."
"That is just as a dumb a statement as anyone could make," said Bederow.
Serafini added that if behavior like Trump's "tended to be successful" when it comes to criminal cases, "defense attorneys would tell their clients, 'go out and act like an idiot, call a press conference, scream asinine things about the prosecutors.'"
"It's absolutely crazy from a normal defense perspective," Serafini said.
Both Bederow and Serafini agreed that Trump should keep quiet and let his lawyers do most of the talking.
But, Bederow and Serafini said the strategy could be beneficial politically for Trump, who has already launched his 2024 presidential campaign.
"From a political standpoint, he sees it as an advantage," Bederow said of Trump. "You know, he's going to make a clown show out of [any potential legal] proceedings as much as he can, again for his political benefit."