NYT's Maggie Haberman pinpoints moment Judge Merchan 'had enough' of Trump's defense team
One reporter thinks that push has come to shove for Judge Juan Merchan when it comes to Donald Trump's lawyers.
The jurist presiding over the historic criminal hush money trial has been "really fair" when it comes to dealing with defendant Trump.
So says New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman when asked to weigh in on her assessment now that the trial of former President Donald Trump has marked its 14th day in court.
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Appearing on CNN, she summarized: "Merchan, while the Trump team really doesn't like him, he has tried being really fair on a bunch of points, including in a sidebar earlier this week saying to [Todd] Blanche when Trump was cursing twice audibly — 'I'm not doing this out loud. I don't want to embarrass your client. You've got to get him under control' — this was the moment I thought when Merchan had finally just had enough."
Merchan used a sidebar to coax Trump's attorney Blanche to subdue Trump's swearing outbursts and get him to stop "cursing audibly."
"I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that's contemptuous ... I am speaking to you here at the bench because I don't want to embarrass him," said Merchan, who has already fined Trump for contempt of court and threatened him with jail for further offenses.
Blanche acquiesced, "I will talk to him ... I will talk to him."
Haberman, who had attended Trump's defamation trial involving columnist E. Jean Carroll where he openly challenged Judge Lewis Kaplan in court, sees Merchan as having exercised remarkable restraint.
Haberman pointed to Merchan casting doubt over Blanche putting forth arguments that weren't in "good faith" and when the jurist "lit into" his other lawyer Susan Necheles for not raising objections while prosecutors freely pursued lurid details from porn star Stormy Daniels testimony of the alleged sexual encounter between her and Trump from 2006 in the Lake Tahoe hotel.
"These details add a sense of credibility if the jury chooses to believe them," he wrote in ruling against the second mistrial request of the week brought by Trump's defense.
Merchan made clear to Trump's defense team that they opened the door into the hotel room and what allegedly took place there because of their opening statement arguing no sex took place whatsoever.
“Your denial puts the jury in the position of choosing who they believe,” he stated.