The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial told reporters to leave the courtroom on Monday and warned the defense’s witness that he could be kicked out of the trial for his behavior while testifying, according to a court transcript.
Judge Juan M. Merchan told Robert Costello, a person who used to work for the government as a lawyer, that his behavior was disrespectful at that moment.
Costello kept making comments and talking even after he was told to stop, which made Merchan really mad during his testimony. At one time, Costello said “jeez” when he was interrupted by an objection. He also said the whole exercise was “silly. ”
“I want to let you know that your behavior is disrespectful,” Merchan said when the press was not in the room, according to the conversation transcript. “If you keep looking at me in a mean way, I will make you leave. ”
Costello did not reply to a message asking for a comment on Monday night.
Merchan told Costello that I had to clear the courtroom because it was difficult for the court officers to do it and there was an argument between the press and their lawyers. “Sir, you’re being disrespectful at the moment. ”
When he started the press conference again, Costello kept talking and will talk more on Tuesday. The defense is trying to make Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, look less trustworthy.
Trump’s lawyers asked Merchan to end the case and dismiss the charges before the jury makes a decision, after the prosecutors finished presenting their evidence. He didn’t make a decision right away. It was the end of a long and intense day, and the main witness for the prosecution admitted to stealing a lot of money from Trump’s company.
After the jurors went home, lawyer Todd Blanche told the judge that the prosecutors did not show enough evidence for their case and it should be dismissed right away. Blanche begged the judge not to send the case to the jury based on Mr Cohen’s testimony.
The judge didn’t seem to be convinced by the argument and asked the defense lawyer if they thought the person’s testimony was so unbelievable that the jury shouldn’t even consider it as a possibility.
“The judge said that you claimed his lies cannot be proven wrong. ” “Do you really believe he can trick 12 New Yorkers into believing this lie. ”
Cohen was the final witness for now for prosecutors. They are trying to show that Trump tried to hide bad stories about himself and then changed business records to hide it, to illegally affect the 2016 election. The defence says that Cohen is a liar who is obsessed with the media and wants to get revenge on Trump.
The defence asked Costello to testify because he was a critic of Cohen after they stopped working together.
Costello said he would help Cohen when the police searched his hotel, office, and house. Cohen had to decide if he would keep fighting the investigation or work with the police to get a lighter punishment.
Costello said that Cohen told him Trump didn’t know anything about the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels.
“Michael Cohen said many times that President Trump didn’t know about the payments, that he did it by himself, and he said that many times,” Costello told the jurors.
Trump’s lawyer said they won’t bring in other people to testify after Costello, but they might still ask campaign-finance expert Bradley A Smith to testify a little bit. It’s not certain if Trump will testify, but it seems like he probably won’t.
Again in court for the fourth day, Cohen said on Monday that he took money from the Trump Organization because his holiday bonus was reduced from $150,000 to $50,000 in 2016.
Cohen said he spent $50,000 to a tech company to help make Trump look better in a poll on CNBC’s website about successful businessmen. Cohen gave the firm $20,000 in cash, and then asked Trump to give him back more money than that, keeping some for himself.
“Did you take things from the Trump Organization. “
“Yes, sir,” Cohen said. Cohen said he never gave the Trump Organization their money back. Cohen has never been accused of taking things from Trump’s company.
Cohen is an important witness, but he is also complicated. He said in court that he told a lot of lies in the past, and he said he did it to protect Trump. Cohen went to prison for admitting he did some bad things, like lying to Congress and a bank, and breaking campaign finance rules to pay hush money. He has earned a lot of money from writing harsh books about the ex-president, and he frequently criticizes the ex-president on social media using bad language.
But when Blanche asked him, Cohen stuck to his memory of talking with Trump about the $130,000 payment to keep Stormy Daniels quiet, which is the main focus of the case.
“Are you sure. ” Blanche asked Cohen if he remembered talking to Trump about the Daniels situation. It’s true, Cohen said.
For over a month, people talked in court about sex, money, gossip, and how Trump’s company keeps records. Soon, a group of people will decide if Trump broke the law by lying about business records. This is the first time a former US president has been on trial for a crime.
The charges come from Trump Organization records that show payments to Cohen were labeled as legal expenses. Prosecutors say these were actually payments to reimburse Daniels for keeping quiet.
Trump says he did not do it. His lawyers claim that there was nothing illegal about the Daniels deal or how Cohen was paid.
“There is no crime,” Trump said to the reporters when he got to the courthouse on Monday. “We spent money on a lawyer. ” Do you know what it’s listed as. A cost for the law.
Trump’s friends, including some who were with him at the courthouse on Monday, were quick to use Cohen’s confession on the witness stand to their advantage. Kash Patel, who used to work for Trump, said that on Monday, for the first time in six weeks of the trial, they found a crime – Cohen stole money from the Trump Organization.
“We have someone who was hurt as well. ” Patel said the victim is Donald J Trump.
Blanche asked Cohen on Monday about his first denials that Trump knew about the Daniels payment. After The Wall Street Journal said in January 2018 that Cohen had paid the porn actor over a year ago, Cohen told people that Trump didn’t know about it.
He only changed his account after the federal authorities searched Cohen’s home, office, and other places related to him in April 2018. Four months later, Cohen admitted to breaking campaign finance laws and other crimes. He told the court that Trump had told him to make the payment to Daniels.
Cohen is usually known for getting angry easily, but he has been surprisingly calm when answering questions in court, even when the defense has been tough on him about his mistakes and the accusations in the case.
The lawyer for Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, is likely to finish presenting evidence once Cohen is done speaking. But if Trump’s lawyers bring in their own witnesses, then the prosecutors could also call in more witnesses to respond. Judge Juan M Merchan said that because of other planned events, he thinks the closing arguments will happen on May 28, which is the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
Defense lawyers stated that they have not yet decided if Trump will testify or not. Trump did not answer the reporters’ questions about whether his lawyers told him not to testify. Defense lawyers usually don’t want their clients to testify in court because it can make things worse for them.
Trump’s lawyers might ask Bradley A Smith, a Republican law professor appointed by former President Bill Clinton to the Federal Election Commission, to argue against the prosecution’s claim that the hush money payments broke campaign finance laws. However, the judge has restricted what Smith can talk about.