Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's first witness, in the criminal case that he brought against former President Donald Trump, was a failure. 

This is according to many legal experts, including Fox News' Gregg Jarrett.

Bragg's first witness was David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer. Jarrett believes that Pecker, in particular, fell apart during cross-examination on Friday.

"Defense attorney Emil Bove vigorously cross-examined the prosecution’s first witness, David Pecker, the ex-publisher of the National Enquirer. Prosecutors sat uncomfortably, as important truths met sunlight," Jarrett writes.

What happened?

First, some context is necessary.

This is all taking place in the so-called hush-money case that Bragg has brought against Trump. Bragg alleges that Trump criminally misrepresented a payment that he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, ahead of the 2016 presidential election, in order to hide their alleged affair.

Trump denies this, and has maintained that Bragg is running election interference for President Joe Biden.

So, where does Pecker fit in? The Washington Examiner reports:

Prosecutors want the 12-member jury to view Pecker's conduct in running negative stories on Trump's political opponents, while silencing negative press about the then-presidential candidate, as a unique pattern that proves Trump sought his services to influence the presidential election.

The only problem, though, is that the prosecution's plan didn't really work out.

Bragg's plan fails

Jarrett highlights the fact that Pecker's testimony really fell apart on Friday, during cross-examination.

The Fox News analyst writes:

Under questioning, Pecker confessed that his tabloid routinely suppressed negative stories and promoted positive ones involving candidates for political office because it was financially profitable. The witness agreed that other, more mainstream news organizations did the exact same thing.  Paying for stories and sometimes killing them was commonplace at the Enquirer, he admitted, especially when celebrities were involved. It was not unique to Trump.

Bragg and his prosecutors, according to Jarrett, tried to hide this fact from the jury, but Trump's lawyers made sure that it got out, and now it doesn't really seem as though Pecker's testimony did much of anything. At the very least, it did not help Bragg.

To prove this, Trump, on Thursday, even had some nice things to say about Pecker. According to The Hill, Trump said, "David’s been very nice. He’s a nice guy."

One would think that, if Bragg wants to get a conviction of Trump, he's going to have to do a lot better than he did with Pecker. But, then again, this is all taking place in New York City.