Donald Trump’s outbursts against the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the US election have become a near-daily occurrence. But on Friday the president made public comments that some observers and legal experts said were unprecedented – and could impact the objectivity of jurors.
Addressing reporters on the south lawn at the White House, Trump said his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort was “a very good person”. At the same time, 23 miles away in Alexandria, Virginia, a jury was deliberating Manafort’s fate.
Manafort faces up to 305 years in prison on 18 counts of bank fraud and tax evasion, as a result of an indictment handed down by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, relating to Manafort’s political work in the former Soviet Union.
“I think the whole Manafort trial is very sad,” Trump said. “I think it’s a very sad day for our country. He happens to be a very good person, and I think it’s very sad what they’ve done to Paul Manafort.”
On Saturday, with the jury recessed for the weekend before an expected third day of deliberations on Monday, legal experts said it was highly uncharacteristic for a sitting president to weigh in on an ongoing trial, much less one involving a former aide.
“It’s incredibly unusual and perhaps unprecedented that a president would weigh in like this during a criminal investigation that’s actually gone past the indictment stage and is now at the jury deliberation stage,” said Greg Brower, who until April was the FBI’s top congressional liaison.
Susan Low Bloch, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center, said Trump simply “shouldn’t have done it”.
“It’s potentially impactful if the jury hears it or heard it,” she said. “It’s not surprising to say most presidents wouldn’t have done that. But that’s a comment that seems to apply to almost everything [Trump] does. He doesn’t abide by any rules.”
Trump has defended Manafort before. On the first day of testimony in court, the president…
