CNN legal analyst Paula Reid reacted with shock Tuesday after a hearing in a New York court to determine if former President Donald Trump violated a gag order.
Following the hearing in Justice Juan Merchan's courtroom, CNN's Kaitlan Collins asked Reid how bad the morning had gone for Trump.
"It was a disaster for the defense," Reid explained. "I know in speaking with them they went in with a very well thought out plan."
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"This just went completely off the rails because while they wanted to do macro big picture, the judge wanted to go post by post through each of these alleged violations of the gag order that in many instances are indefensible," she continued.
"I mean, you have a judge here suggesting that [defense attorney Todd Blanche] had already undermined his credibility with the court as you said on day two and even at one point suggesting that Trump should take the stand and say under oath that he didn't mean to violate this gag order."
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Reid said she wasn't surprised that Trump's team struggled in court.
"I mean, I knew this wasn't going to go well legally for the team even though they had some meritorious arguments, but this was much worse than I could have expected," she noted.
Trump faces charges of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal ahead of the 2016 election. The gag order was put in place to prevent him from intimidating witnesses and jurors.
He faces a fine of up to $1,000 per violation or up to 30 days in jail. The judge has not yet ruled.
Watch the video below from CNN.
