CNN’s Kaitlan Collins calls out Trump for claim about trial judge: ‘That’s not true’

by Filip Timotija - 05/25/24 5:19 PM ET

CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins called out former President Trump during the opening of her Friday show for a claim that Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over his hush-money trial, is blocking him from bringing in an election expert to testify.

“In one post, tonight, he’s ranting that the judge blocked him from having an election expert testify,” Collins said during Friday’s edition of her show “The Source with Kaitlan Collins.”

“But that’s not true,” she said. “We were there! We witnessed this discussion that happened inside the courtroom. Trump’s attorneys, in the end, chose not to call that election expert, because the judge refused to broaden the scope of what he could testify to. He was worried it would become, as the judge put it, a battle of the experts.”

The presumptive GOP nominee has been continuously putting out posts on Truth Social going after Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and others as the defense rested its case on Tuesday in the hush-money trial where Trump faces 34 felony counts. The closing arguments in the criminal case will be delivered following Memorial Day Weekend, after which the jury will start deliberating.

“He is denying me the opportunity to put on a Highly Respected Election Law Expert who will say, once again, that THERE WAS NO CRIME,” Trump said in a Friday post on Truth Social. “This Judge, whose conflicts are completely disqualifying, isn’t even requiring a unanimous decision by the jury on key portions of this Criminal Hoax, which is UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND UNAMERICAN.”

During her Friday remarks, Collins said that “history” might be made by the end of next week considering that the 12-person jury, selected in mid-April, will decide if the former president is guilty.

“We’re really finding ourselves on the cusp of history tonight, because by this time, next week, we may finally know whether or not Donald Trump will be a convicted felon, or whether a jury of his peers, here in Manhattan, will find him not guilty.”