MSNBC panel groans at possibility of Trump trial verdict next week

Panelists on MSNBC groaned when a former prosecutor said there’s a possibility that a verdict in former President Trump’s hush money trial could come as late as next week.

Closing arguments in the former president’s case began Tuesday, meaning the end of the weeks-long case is near. The jury will then decide whether to make Trump the first convicted president in U.S. history, but it’s not known how long they’ll take to deliberate.

MSNBC’s Katy Tur, Andrea Mitchell and Chris Jansing were discussing when the trial would come to a close. They asked former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Daniel Horwitz how long he thought it would go.

Depending on when closing arguments conclude — which may be some time from now, considering prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said he had prepared remarks that could take well into the evening — Horwitz said he believes the jury will get the case Wednesday.

“I think this jury is going to be extremely careful and deliberative. I could see it going until early next week,” he said in comments highlighted by Mediaite.

Tur laughed, and Jansing exclaimed, “What!” Mitchell said, “You’re killing us, Daniel.”

“On the other hand, if they … get this case tomorrow, before the lunch break, I think that we will have a verdict before Friday,” Horwitz continued.

“I think that they will want to be done with this case. They do not want to have it going into another week. They will want to be done by the weekend,” he said.

Horwitz noted that this is an unusual case, since Trump is the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee. He said he thinks the jury will be “especially deliberative” and that it wouldn’t be unusual if it takes them a few days to reach a verdict.

Still, he argued there’s likely a “Friday effect” weighing on the jurors.

“If they get the case when I think they’ll get it, which is before lunch tomorrow, I think you’ll have a verdict before Friday,” he said.

“They will want to be done. That’s the Friday effect,” Horwitz said. “We’re done with the case. We don’t want to come next week. We’ve sat for a long time. It’s Friday. Let’s be done with it.”