Donald Trump is not happy with his main lawyer, Todd Blanche, according to the New York Times.
The former president has been frustrated with Blanche since the early days of her criminal trial on hush money charges, four people familiar with the matter said, according to New York Times political reporters. Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
He allegedly complained about the lack of aggressiveness from Blanche, a former federal prosecutor. Trump wants his lawyer to attack the witnesses, the judge and what he “considers a hostile jury,” the Times reported.
The sources said the former president, known for dodging bills, also complained about the cost of his lawyers’ legal fees.
Jason Miller, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, told the Times that Trump and his team are focused on fighting the “ridiculous” case and that “anonymous comments from people who are not in the room are just that.” .
Trump is currently in court for the third week of trial on charges of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors say Trump engaged in a “catch and kill” scheme to suppress negative stories about himself before the 2016 election, then rigged records to hide the true nature of payments made as reimbursements to his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen. Cohen had paid porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about an affair she said she had with Trump a decade earlier.
Blanche has apparently sought to appease Trump to some extent, using strategies in court that some analysts have called “terrible” and bizarre.
Legal experts have suggested that Trump is harming his own defense by forcing his lawyer to tell lies and promote political rhetoric that doesn’t hold up in court.
Last week, Judge Juan Merchan told Blanche he was “losing all credibility with this court” after he argued his client was working to comply with a silence order preventing him from attacking those involved in the case.
Mercan ruled Tuesday that Trump had violated the silence order and warned that he faced prison time if he continued to do so. He was fined $9,000 for nine violations and ordered to remove the offending posts on his Truth Social account.
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