Dr. Phil McGraw debated CNN host Abby Phillip over whether former President Trump received a fair trial in a New York City courtroom last week, during a late-night stop on CNN Thursday.
"I’m sympathetic to what Trump has gone through in this particular trial because I think it was not proper due process for him. I would say the same if it was Biden or anyone else in that process," McGraw told Phillip during the contentious media appearance.
McGraw appeared on the network to discuss his interview with the former president earlier that day. However, the conversation quickly derailed into an argument over whether Trump received due process in his court case, where he was found guilty on 34 felony counts of mishandling business records.
Phillip pressed McGraw to explain why he felt Trump wasn't given due process and remarked at two points that she "didn't understand" his reasoning.
McGraw argued he had a problem with what the jury heard from the prosecution's star witness, Michael Cohen.
Cohen's credibility was frequently called into question by legal analysts in the media during the trial. CNN's own Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig argued that while Cohen's testimony was important to the case, he had "serious credibility issues."
Because of Cohen's testimony, McGraw argued the jury "heard some things that were very prejudicial, that had nothing to do with solving the problem of the case at hand."
"I think you don't have someone that is considered to be an accomplice in a crime that has pled out or made a non-prosecution agreement and allow that information into the jury's awareness because it's very prejudicial and is not really probative of anything that they're asked to be problem-solving," he explained.
However, Phillip argued that it was "not uncommon at all" in mob cases, for example, for prosecutors to use witnesses who've taken plea deals, like Cohen did, to testify against their alleged co-conspirators in subsequent trials.
TRUMP GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS IN NEW YORK CRIMINAL TRIAL
"That’s kind of how a lot of these prosecutions work," she said.
"I don't understand how you can say that because someone…signed a non-prosecution argument that their testimony cannot be presented before the jury if they were part of the alleged scheme," she added.
McGraw and Phillip continued to go back and forth about Cohen's testimony, with McGraw asking Phillip to provide other examples where this had been done.
He said he wasn't arguing that Cohen shouldn't have been allowed to testify, after Phillip questioned his claims.
"No, that’s not what I’m saying. I said what I said," he retorted. "I think the fact that he made an agreement to say that he is guilty of the crime that the defendant is being tried for prejudices the jury that ‘Hey, here’s someone that’s supposedly an accomplice that has said, I’m guilty of this,’" McGraw said. "That prejudices a jury about the person that’s currently on trial for the same crime."
Phillip pointed out that Cohen was not prosecuted for falsifying business records like Trump was, before steering the conversation back to the original topic.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR TRUMP LEGALLY? WHICH CASE MIGHT COME UP BEFORE ELECTION DAY?
McGraw previously blasted the "weaponization" of the justice system on his show, following Trump's guilty verdict.
"This weaponization of our great institutions – the FBI, Justice Department, and individual states’ similar institutions – will lead to one of two outcomes: one is more of the same from the other side – tit-for-tat. That may seem deserved, but it is not the right way forward for America," he said.
During the CNN segment on Thursday, McGraw explained that he gave a similar warning to Trump about seeking "revenge" on those he felt had wronged him.
"Look, this is not going to help this country. If you get into a position of power and your agenda is one of revenge, retribution saying, ‘Ok, you came after me so now I’m going to come after you,' America picks up the tab for that. That's not anything that's good to do," he said.
