Donald Trump's lawyer may have hurt his case by claiming that the former president never had sex with Stormy Daniels, a former federal prosecutor said.
In his opening statement to the jury on Thursday, Todd Blanche described Daniels claims as "false, false allegations."
Lawyer and New York University law professor Andrew Weissmann said Blanche's opening statement could be trouble for Trump later in the trial.
Speaking on Inside With Jen Psaki on MSNBC, Weissmann said that it was a bold statement for Blanche to deny that Trump had an affair with Daniels.
Newsweek sought email comments from Blanche and Trump on Monday.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is the first former president in United States history to stand trial in a criminal case. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The prosecution seeks to prove that before the 2016 presidential election, Trump paid, or discussed paying, two women—adult film star Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal—not to disclose his alleged affairs with them. He denies affairs with either woman.
Weissmann said that, in any criminal trial, defense and prosecution have to be careful what they promise the jury in opening statements.
He said that it's difficult to say how the denial will come into evidence. Daniels will testify that she had sex with Trump, Weissmann said, while Trump will likely not testify.
Weissmann said that the prosecution will then be able to use Blanche's denial in its closing statement to the jury.
Prosecutors will tell the jury that the defense produced no evidence to back up its denial of the Trump/Daniels affair, he said.
Weissmann said that Blanche may have felt obliged to make the denial for the sake of public consumption, but "it is going to hurt" later in the trial.
He was referring to a part of Blanche's opening statement when he told the jury that Daniels was paid for a non-disclosure agreement so that she would not spread "false, false claims" about Trump.
"So her testimony, while salacious, does not matter," Blanche added.
Weissmann said there is "no way on God's green Earth" that Trump is going to testify, which is going to leave Daniels' testimony uncontested.
He added that, in a criminal trial, both sides listen to each other's opening statements carefully to see if there is anything said that cannot be backed up.
Weissmann said that Blanche's opening statement is going to hurt Trump's case unless he can "prove it up."
Weissmann also said he was confident that another of Trump's lawyers, Susan Necheles, would throw herself in front of the witness stand rather than let Trump testify.
However, he said that all defendants have the right to testify and Trump has "a lot of hubris."
He said that a prosecutor would be "licking [their] chops" with anticipation if Trump decides to testify.
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Sean O'Driscoll is a Newsweek Senior Crime and Courts Reporter based in Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. law. ... Read more
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