A cable cabal of anti-Trump legal pundits reportedly meet for a weekly Zoom call to discuss the latest on former President Donald Trump’s legal troubles – and then spread their consensus views on left-leaning networks, according to a report.
The weekly meetings are scheduled for Fridays and are hosted by Norman Eisen, a CNN legal analyst and former Obama official, Politico Magazine reported Tuesday.
The group includes anti-Trump GOP commentators Bill Kristol and George Conway, liberal Harvard professor Laurence Tribe, former Nixon White House counsel John Dean, MSNBC legal analyst Andrew Weissmann, and former CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, according to the outlet.
The meetings have a “distinct anti-Trump tilt to it,” one group participant admitted to Politico.
Another legal TV commentator who does not participate in the Zoom calls told the outlet. “It runs the risk of creating the impression that there is an agreement or cooperation or conspiracy across mainstream media entities.”
The person, who was “surprised to hear” that weekly meetings were occurring, added that the clandestine sit-downs could feed into some “false” or “damaging perceptions.”
Ankush Khardori, who wrote Politico story, said the call serves as a chance to discuss different legal arguments and “generate and shape content for Trump-hungry consumers.”
Their views, however, run the risk of a group-think mentality.
“Do some of the people on the call align their positions as a result of their discussions? Yes, probably,” Khardori said. “That can sound nefarious, but it is also the natural result of a group discussion that is working properly. People refine and clarify their positions. They find points of agreement that might surprise them. Their areas of disagreement become narrower, more precise.”
One source told the outlet that there was some discussion and skepticism among the legal pundits over the current hush money trial against Trump in Manhattan.
The GOP presidential frontrunner faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in relation to alleged payments he made to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 election.
“Skepticism and some ambivalence about the merits of the case — and whether it should have been brought in the first place — has been something of a running theme across some of the calls,” Khardori wrote.
Conway, a contributor for The Atlantic, often weighs in on Trump’s cases on MSNBC, along with Weissman, who also hosts a podcast called, “Prosecuting Donald Trump.”
Toobin, a former CNN legal analyst and New Yorker writer, who was caught by colleagues masturbating on a Zoom call, has returned to CNN as a semi-regular guest.
He often provides commentary on various legal topics like Trump’s ongoing indictments, Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Biden and more recently the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to toss Colorado’s Trump ballot ban.
Others who frequently join the Zoom meeting include liberal Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, CNN commentator Karen Agnifilo, Weissman’s podcast host Mary McCord, Harry Litman, Barbara McQuade and Joyce White Vance, according to Politico.
“It feels almost like a seminar in law school,” one group participant told Politico.
The Zoom calls include “deliberation, debate and discussion.”
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