Former Sex Crimes Prosecutor Describes Trump's 'Mistake' in Trial

Donald Trump may regret his decision to not attend the New York battery and defamation trial over a civil lawsuit against him, according to a lawyer who once worked as a sex crimes prosecutor.

Attorney Shan Wu shared that view in an opinion piece he wrote for The Daily Beast, in which he said that Trump skipping the trial is a "mistake" because the move may be viewed unfavorably by the jury.

The lawsuit was brought against Trump by former Elle magazine writer E. Jean Carroll, who is suing him over allegations that he defamed her character when he denied sexually assaulting her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and then later insulted her appearance. According to the allegations in Carroll's suit, Trump forcibly groped and raped her.

The former president has also been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury and faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

Earlier this month, Trump pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges in that case and has also denied any wrongdoing in connection to the rape and defamation allegations made by Carroll in her lawsuit.

It is unclear if Trump plans to show up at any point in the trial, but he was not present for Tuesday's opening statements. Since he did "not bother showing up in person," Wu said, the trial "began poorly for the former president."

The attorney said in his Daily Beast piece that Trump's decision "likely reflects a strategic choice to show that he is above the allegations, calculated to send a not-so-subtle message to the jury that the claims are not serious enough to even warrant his attendance."

However, Wu said that this "is a mistake on Trump's part and unlikely to go over well with the jury. After all, they have to be there because of him so why shouldn't he be there?"

The attorney wrote that, in his professional experience, he's found that credibility is a "particularly important factor in such cases and a big part of that is the demeanor of parties both on and off the stand."

Meanwhile, Wu noted that Carroll "was in full view of the jurors" as Trump's attorney Joe Tacopina delivered his opening remarks. This showed the jury that Carroll "stands behind her allegations and that she is unafraid to let them see for themselves her demeanor and reactions."

Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County in Florida, echoed Wu's sentiment during an appearance on MSNBC's Morning Joe.

"His lawyers know that ghosting the jury is never a good idea. That empty chair is not going to look good," Aronberg said, adding that Trump's "absence will loom large."

Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung addressed the opinions stated by Wu and Aronberg in an email to Newsweek.

"Shan Wu and Dave Aronberg are notorious traffickers of wild conspiracy theories and dubious legal analysis," Cheung wrote. "I would expect nothing more from clout-chasing MSNBC and CNN contributors who have been shunned by the legal community at large."

Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and a former federal prosecutor, told Newsweek that he agreed with Wu's assessment.

"It's a mistake for Trump not to attend. Jurors have to be in court every day, so they expect the parties to do the same," he said.

Rahmani cited as an example last fall's Connecticut trial of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The InfoWars host declined to take the stand in his own defense in the defamation trial over his comments calling the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School a hoax. As a result, Jones "got slammed by the jury" and was ordered to pay hundreds of millions of dollars.

"Parties that are absent are more likely to lose because they give jurors the impression that they do not care about the outcome of the trial," Rahmani said. "Deposition testimony is also less effective and more boring than live testimony."