Professor and Senior Scholar Steve Friedland spoke with Boris Sanchez, a guest host on "Erin Burnett OutFront," for coverage of the criminal trial in New York against former President Donald Trump.
An Elon University School of Law faculty member who observed much of the high-profile federal trial more than a decade ago of a candidate for the White House spoke with CNN in recent coverage of the current criminal trial in New York against former President Donald Trump.
Professor and Senior Scholar Steve Friedland drew parallels between former U.S. Sen. John Edwards, a Democratic candidate for president in 2008 whose pregnant mistress received financial support, and charges in New York against Trump for lying about expenses paid to porn star Stormy Daniels that prosecutors say should have been recorded as campaign expenditures.
“I think there are many similarities between the two cases and John Edwards had a stronger argument that he was making the payment to protect his wife, who was stricken with cancer at the time,” Friedland said. “I do believe, however, that there can be narrative that Donald Trump was not directing this, and I think that’s what the defense is saying: that Michael Cohen went rogue.
“They still have that opportunity to say that this was not about the election, it was about the family.”
Edwards was acquitted in a 2012 criminal trial in Greensboro, North Carolina, of one count and the jury was hung on additional counts related to campaign donors who secretly funneled nearly $1 million to his mistress.
As for the Trump trial? “I think this could end in a mistrial very easily,” Friedland told CNN.
I think this could end in a mistrial very easily.
– Professor and Senior Scholar Steve Friedland
Friedland is a founding member of the Elon Law faculty and a former federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. He has published articles in multiple top law reviews, and his books on evidence law, constitutional law, criminal law and procedure, and law school teaching have been published by the West Publishing Company, Aspen Press, Lexis Publishing Company and Carolina Academic Press.