For his willingness to buck the liberal line of the network that employs him, Danny Cevallos is the MSNBC legal analyst we most respect.
Thus, as we have noted, Cevallos had the integrity -- and the guts -- to say that Roe v. Wade "stands on a weak foundational basis" and was ripe to be overturned because "the right to privacy does not exist."
And in another appearance, Cevallos described the Hunter Biden plea deal, before it fell apart, as an unprecedented "gift from heaven" to Biden from the prosecution.
So when Cevallos speaks, we listen.
On MSNBC Saturday morning, Cevallos made two interesting predictions:
- First, that some of the criminal cases against Trump will be delayed. In particular, Cevallos said that the first witnesses in the case against Trump in Fulton County, Georgia will not be heard until 2025. "Save the tape" of his prediction, said Cevallos, with some trepidation.
- Second, Cevallos predicted that if Trump is elected, and if any of the federal cases against him are still pending, he will appoint an Attorney General who will dismiss them. If that doesn't work, said Cevallos, "he will try—may not be successful—will try to pardon himself." Cevallos specified "federal cases" because the Attorney General would not have the power to dismiss a state case, nor would a President Trump have the power to pardon himself of state court convictions.
At this point, polls, even from MSNBC's mother network NBC, show Trump leading Biden. And in the J6 criminal case, Trump will be facing a federal jury in heavily Democratic D.C., which went 92% to 5% for Biden over Trump in 2020. So the scenarios Cevallos painted of Trump being elected, and either appointing an Attorney General who would dismiss the federal cases, or Trump trying to pardon himself, are well within the realm of possibility.
Imagine the political earthquake—and collective meltdown in liberal-media land—that would ensue!
Note: Cevallos appeared during the Saturday Velshi show. In the absence of the eponymous host, MSNBC legal analyst Charles Coleman filled in. While Coleman surely leans left, he is not as crudely partisan as Velshi.
On MSNBC, legal analyst Danny Cevallos predicting that a number of the cases against Donald Trump will not begin until 2025, and that if Trump is elected, he will try to pardon himself, was sponsored in part by Subway, Verizon, BMW, and Humana.
Here's the transcript.
MSNBC
Velshi
11/25/23
10:11 am ETCHARLES COLEMAN: Now Danny, Anthony has told us we need to move on to Aileen Cannon, so let's just do that. And as attorneys, we are looking at this trial calendar, okay? And the delays are not necessarily unusual. It's something that happens.
People are arguing that Aileen Cannon seems to be setting the stage to push this as close to or beyond election 2024. What's the likelihood that that happens?
DANNY CEVALLOS: Very likely. I've said that as to most of these cases, especially the state court cases, you can plan on 2025 for the trial start.
COLEMAN: Wow.
CEVALLOS: When it comes to the Fulton County case, the first witnesses in 2025. Save the tape, I've said it before. Don't save the tape, just in case I'm wrong. But save it so I can say it now.
The point is that these cases are going to take a while. These are the most significant criminal trials in American history. And while the government, at least in the documents case in Florida. and in the D.C. case, they may feel that they're ready to proceed for trial. Absolutely, the D.C. case is designed for speed. That will probably be the first one to go to trial.
The documents case is complex. The government says they can proceed to trial sooner. Yeah, but as a defense attorney, the government is usually pretty ready by the time they indict the case. It's the defense that has to look through terabytes of documents and decide how to proceed, what kind of defense they want to put on.
So, I am a little sympathetic with the idea that this will take some time. But, at the same time, federal court generally moves very quickly. I think the May 20 trial date in the documents case in Florida is probably not going to happen.
. . .
And the reality is, delay in this case, delay usually inures to the benefit of the defense. But never before in American history has delay inured to benefit of a criminal defendant like it will for Trump.
Because if this case is still pending—any of the federal cases—he'll simply appoint an Attorney General who will dismiss it. And if that doesn't work, he will try, may not be successful, but will try to pardon himself.
