MSNBC panel groans at possibility of Donald Trump trial verdict next week

MSNBC panelists groaned after a former prosecutor said a verdict in former President Trump’s hush money trial could come as soon as next week.

Closing arguments in the former president’s trial began on Tuesday, drawing to a close a weeks-long trial. Jurors will then decide whether to make Trump the first president in U.S. history to be convicted, but it is unclear how long deliberations will take.

MSNBC’s Katie Tur, Andrea Mitchell and Chris Jansing were discussing when the trial might end, when they asked former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Daniel Horowitz how long he thought the trial would last.

Depending on when closing arguments are finished, which could be some time from now given that prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he had prepared remarks that could take well into the evening, Horowitz said he believes the jury will be hearing the case on Wednesday.

“I expect this jury will deliberate very carefully, potentially extending into early next week,” he said in comments. Mediaite highlights.

Tarr laughed, Jansing yelled, “What?”, and Mitchell said, “Daniel, you’re trying to kill us.”

“On the other hand, if the case gets heard before lunch tomorrow, I think we could have a decision by Friday,” Horowitz continued.

“They’ll want to get this case over with. They don’t want to drag it out for another week. They’ll want to get it over with by the weekend,” he said.

Horowitz noted this is an unusual case because Trump is a former president and a presumptive Republican presidential nominee. He said he believes the jury will deliberate “particularly carefully” and that it is not unusual for it to take several days to reach a verdict.

Still, he argued that the “Friday effect” is likely to weigh heavily on jurors.

“If they accept the case before lunch tomorrow, as I expect, I think we’ll have a decision by Friday,” he said.

“They want it to be over. That’s the Friday effect,” Horowitz said. “This case is over. We don’t want to go next week. We’ve been sitting on it for too long. It’s Friday. Let’s get it over with.”