Page 603 - Instruction News Today

Recused himself. he has information potentially about what the president said about mike flynn and his concerns about that. and i think importantly here by not inserting any privilege. and mcgan was able to tell muellers team the legal advice he gave to trump. lets go back a year, originally one of the defenses was that he doesnt know what is going on. he doesnt realize this could be obstruction. if he was being advised it could be instruction, it would go to how he was e engaging in certain act...

Public conduct and private conduct that those people are then witnesses to. and so he gets angry at mueller and he tries to fire mueller. who does the instruction go to? it goes to don mcgahn, who is then cooperating with mueller himself. and so, look, the basic problem is that hes in a world of legal hurt. he is surrounded by lawyers who are not competent. you know, we skated over this, but discussing legal strategies in the presence of ken vogel in a public place is not normal legal behavior. ...

Eastern district of new york, maybe in the southern district now, he transferred, he had a jury that deliberated one or two months. it is not unusual for a jury with a lot of exhibits, 400 here, to take their time. here is the other more important thing. they have 18 counts. that is a lot to go through. >> not five, not six, but 18 is what you are saying, right? >> yes. i think he will be convicted of six to ten counts. but they have to go through 18 counts. in the indictment that i had that too...

Is so highly publicized and theres so much at stake? >> probably judge ellis felt that was too great an imposition on the jury. judges are very sensitive to the strain and interference in the jurors lives. theres also some feeling when you sequester a jury, it places even greater pressure on them. but hes bog to be second-guessed on this one. >> all right. hopefully theyre following all those instructions, right? not watching reports. because thats usually what comes with an instruction over the...

>> they are extending to the deportation of separated families. 356 kids have parent thats are already deported. the reunification efforts, how are they going in your mind? >> the trump had min straadmini failed to meet the deadlines that were instructed by a federal court. there is over 360 parents that are deported. we dont know anything about the where abouts of their parent. we brought a mom together this week that she had to fly from los angeles to new york city to get back with her childre...

>> well, you know, on the one hand, youve got the prosecution who is likely to -- like jack said, a jury is back there and thinking, well, somebody wants to hear it. does it mean beyond all doubt? do they really have to prove this, is this something that is just based on some sort of gut feeling that i have or is there some -- something that you can actually give a reason for. on the other hand, the defense may be thinking, well, were hoping back there theres a juror who says look, i dont believ...

Right now, and im not going to come off of it because i dont think the government has taken this thing to the mat, and theyve not eliminated every possibility of guilt. so those two things at work. ill say this. i think at the end of the day this is not an unusual question. ive seen a lot of criminal jury trials, and it is a difficult concept to get, and sometimes you just need a judge to nudge them a little bit, and make the law a little more clear at least, let them hear that part of the instr...

>> yeah. so the reasonable doubt question is probably the single most common question that juries ask because that is the fulcrum of the whole case. its the burden the prosecution has to meet and the defense will say it 100 times in closing. the original instruction thats given is sort of unsatisfactory to a lot of normal people. the judge just says reasonable doubt is a doubt based on reason. >> youre like what? >> exactly. they come back and say canny tell us more. he says the same thing, the ...

Further direction? >> its so unsatisfying, right, for jurors to hear that thing. it doesnt give them much more direction. thats what the appellate courts have said is the proper instruction. just restructure it. its a doubt thats reasonable. i have heard it so many times. juries struggle with the reasonable doubt standard. the higher courts have said that they dont want to define it further than that. this is a very, very common situation. jurors dont like it. they are sent back to continue to s...

Point in part because the defense made a big deal about the fact that, in effect, paul manafort was selectively prosecuted by the office of special counsel. that this is not the type of case that you would ordinarily see, but for the fact that the office of special counsel was really going after manafort as trumps campaign chairman. that argument was precluded by the judge. in somewhat of a surprise to me, as i sat in there listening to it, thinking to myself as a former prosecutor, object, obje...