MSNBC's Joy Reid said former President Donald Trump's "hush money" trial was "wonderfully poetic" because cases had been brought against the former president by black public officials.
Reid referred to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case against the former president during a Monday broadcast of her program The ReidOut as the former president's trial began.
"There is something wonderfully poetic about the fact that, despite the fact that even if convicted he's not going to go to prison, the first person to actually criminally prosecute Donald Trump is a black Harvard grad," Reid said. "The very kind of person that his former staff, the people who worked for him, Stephen Miller, et cetera, want to never be at Harvard Law School."
"But he was, and he came out and graduated, and he's prosecuting you, Donald," she added.
"And a black woman is doing the same exact thing in Georgia," Reid said of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis before mentioning New York State District Attorney Letitia James' charges against Trump. "And a black woman forced you to pay [a] $175 million fine that's now in question because the people who put it up might not be legit."
The MSNBC host said Trump was being held to account by the "multicultural" and "multiracial democracy" that he opposed.
"For me, there's something poetic and actually wonderful about that," she continued. "It says something good about our country that we're still capable of having that happen."
Reid then lauded diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives saying, "Go DEI. My DEIs are bringing it home on today."
Upon the trial's Monday commencement, Judge Juan M. Merchan ordered Trump to appear in court for the duration of his trial, threatening the former president with arrest if he fails to comply.
The order followed a late-March gag order against the former president barring Trump from making or directing others to make statements about witnesses' roles in the case. The gag order also barred Trump from commenting on prosecutors and court staff as well as their relatives if the comments are intended to interfere with their work on the case.
By Monday afternoon, about 50 of the 96 prospective jurors were excused from Trump's trial after saying they could not be fair and impartial.
Trump later commented on Merchan's demand that the former president appear in person every day of his trial.
"Looks like the judge will not let me go to the graduation of my son, who has worked very, very hard," Trump said of his son Barron.
