Axelrod: ‘It’s a Good Thing’ Trump Was Accountable, But It Needed ‘Novel Legal Theory’

On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN Senior Political Commentator and former Obama adviser David Axelrod stated that he thinks “it’s a good thing in this country if, no matter who you are, you are held accountable when you break the law.” But acknowledged that the case against 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump relied on a “novel legal theory” but Trump’s crime “was there for everybody to see.”

After former Republican Congressman Ken Buck stated that everyone has broken the law if you examine them closely, Axelrod said, “Honestly, you don’t need a huge magnifying glass in this case. … Michael Cohen went to prison for his involvement in the thing that Donald Trump got convicted for yesterday. So, I don’t understand how that is taking a magnifying glass. I thought it was there for everybody to see. The question is whether the guy who masterminded the thing would be held accountable, and now he is. I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s a good thing in this country if, no matter who you are, you are held accountable when you break the law.”

Later, after host Bill Maher questioned both the political effectiveness and legal soundness of the case, Axelrod stated, “[L]ook, this is not the case.” He then said that it’s contradictory to say President Joe Biden is “senile and incompetent” but is also masterminding a legal plot against Trump.

Axelrod continued, “But I said from the beginning that nobody would have chosen this case. There are four cases, some of them are very, very serious. … I said at the time that this case was being contemplated that if you have to say, porn star and novel legal theory in the same sentence, maybe you better think about it.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett