The Trump trial suffers a nervous breakdown
By
Byron York
May 21, 2024 12:11 pm
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THE TRUMP TRIAL SUFFERS A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. The trial of former President Donald Trump is now in its sixth week in Manhattan. Even though it doesn’t meet every day, the court sessions are intense and can wear on all the participants. It is particularly unfortunate when they wear on the judge who is in control of all the proceedings. That is what appears to have happened late Monday, at the end of a very odd day, when Judge Juan Merchan abruptly ordered the courtroom cleared — of everyone, including press, even though the trial is public — when Merchan apparently lost his temper over a witness called by the Trump defense.
The witness was Robert Costello, a well-known lawyer in New York. Costello had once been the lawyer for Michael Cohen, who was once Trump’s lawyer and who, according to testimony in the trial, has spent the last several years lying about Trump, stealing money from him, evading taxes, and defrauding banks, among other activities. Manhattan prosecutors have based key parts of their case against Trump on Cohen’s word.
Having Costello testify was a last-minute decision by the Trump defense. He had knowledge of Cohen’s credibility, having been Cohen’s lawyer, and by an unusual series of events, Cohen had waived attorney-client privilege concerning Costello, meaning that Costello could testify about their communications. Costello testified that Cohen told him that Trump did not know about the nondisclosure agreement payments to porn star Stormy Daniels. “Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about those payments, that he did this on his own, and he repeated that numerous times,” Costello said.
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