WASHINGTON — Glenn Kirschner, legal analyst at NBC News, blasted the media for referring to the New York trial of former President Donald Trump as a hush-money trial. Speaking at The Business of TV News event here, he said it is an election interference trial.
“It frustrates me to no end when the mainstream media grabs a hold of a soundbite and just beats it to death,” said Kirschner.
He said the case is about falsifying business records to illegally gain an advantage in an election. “What it’s not is a hush-money case,” he said, criticizing the media for going with the “catchy or even salacious” headline.
Kirschner sat for an interview at the event, which was hosted by B+C, Multichannel News and NextTV, with Charlie Weiss, of Weiss Entertainment and Media Consulting. Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor, hosts the YouTube program Justice Matters.
He said his TV appearances don’t give him much time to explain complex legal issues, but YouTube allows him to go long. He has more than 700,000 subscribers.
“We’re able to spend as much time as it takes, hopefully without losing our audience, to really explain the legal issue of the day in layman’s terms,” he said, “and give people context.”
He addressed why a legal analyst is in demand these days: “The insane legal landscape on which we find ourselves,” he explained. “We are in extraordinary times on the legal front, the rule of law front, the Constitution front.”
Kirschner took a question from the audience about when Americans might be able to watch a court case such as the Trump trial on TV or online. “I have been pushing this,” he said.
“If we could see it with our own eyes … we can draw our own conclusions and we’re not beholden to mouthpieces. I hope the judiciary is pulled, kicking and screaming, into the modern era and someday that changes.”
