“You lose all credibility”: judge cracks down on Donald Trump’s lawyer for his posts on social media

The trial had only started on Monday, but on Tuesday morning the court had to consider some statements made by Trump on his own social network Truth Socialwhich would amount to violations of a gag order previously imposed on the ex-president.

Trump has repeatedly attacked parties involved in the lawsuit on social media in recent weeks. Most were aimed at Michael Cohen, his former lawyer but now his arch-enemy and the most important witness at the trial.

READ ALSO. “This is pure theater, they are afraid of him”: our man in New York speaks to Trump fans and haters at the start of the trial

Trump also quoted comments in his profile from Jesse Watters, a conservative television host Fox News, who stated without evidence that “progressive undercover activists who lie to the judge were chosen to serve on the jury.” A day after the publication of that claim, a jury member threw in the towel for fear of being recognized.

Public prosecutor: “The defendant laughs about it”

“What happened here is exactly what this ban was intended to prevent. But the defendant laughs it off,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo emphasized. “Mr. Trump knows about this ban, he knows he is not allowed to do it, but he does it anyway,” he said.

Contempt of court carries penalties ranging from fines to a prison sentence of up to thirty days. The prosecutor asked the judge to impose the maximum fines ($1,000 per offending publication) and remind the ex-president that prison “remains an option if necessary.”

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Judge: “You lose all credibility”

Judge Juan Merchan reserved his decision, but was not visibly convinced by that request. But when Trump’s lawyer assured that his client was only defending himself against political attacks and was “very careful to respect the rules”, he was particularly critical. “I must point out that you are in the process of losing all credibility with the court,” Merchan said. “You don’t offer me any evidence for that reasoning. I asked you eight or nine times: show me the message he was supposed to respond to. But you have failed to do that even once.”

Striking: during a subsequent break in the session, Trump left a message Truth Social again critical of Merchan. “The highly controversial, to put it mildly, Judge Juan Merchan has taken away my constitutional right to freedom of expression,” it said. “Anyone can talk and lie about me, but I can’t defend myself. This is a show trial, the judge should recuse himself!”

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First witness

After the debate on the gag order, the debates on the merits of the case were resumed. On Tuesday, David Pecker spoke: the former publisher of the tabloid National Enquirerwho at Trump’s request bought scandal stories and then did not publish them, the so-called ‘catch and kill‘-process.

Pecker made it clear that he had known Trump since the 1980s, that during the 2016 election campaign he was convinced that the vast majority of his readers wanted to see Trump win, and that he therefore supported the Trump campaign let it strain. “No one deserves it more than you,” Michael Cohen wrote in an invitation to Pecker for the official start of the Trump campaign.

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The company behind the National Enquirer already admitted in 2018 that it had paid $150,000 to Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story about a months-long affair with Trump. American Media also acknowledged that it had “collaborated” with the Trump campaign to do so. The company also made a similar deal (for $30,000) with a doorman who wanted to sell a (false) story about Trump’s illegitimate child to tabloids.

According to Trump, all expenditure for this was personal, and therefore did not violate any election laws.