Although he was never considered a towering intellect, many nonetheless viewed former President Donald Trump as a shrewd and cynical operator. Behind all of these diatribes and outbursts lies a certain logic, and for a while there was no arguing with the results: a stint in the White House and escape from any consequences of actions that might have led someone another behind bars.
Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan tests this thesis. So far, the 77-year-old’s antics — attacking potential witnesses and intimidating jurors, in the courtroom and on Truth Social — resemble less those of a master at work than the actions of ‘a man who just can’t control himself. It even looks like it could cost him dearly.
A hearing is scheduled for next week to determine whether Trump’s actions so far violate the silence order imposed on him, with prosecutors seeking to fine him up to $1,000 for each alleged offense. But on Thursday, the third day of jury selection, Judge Juan Merchan said he had already seen enough.
The first tangible consequence came after Assistant Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the court that in the future he would no longer provide the defense with any guidance on which witnesses it planned to call the next day at trial. Trump faces 34 counts related to his alleged falsification of business records to conceal a hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors say was intended to illegally influence the 2016 election.
“We’re not telling them who the witnesses are,” Steinglass announced, with Merchan responding that he “can’t blame them” given Trump’s previous attacks on Daniels and his former fixer, Michael Cohen.
This would put Trump’s defense team at a disadvantage, a fact that his lawyer, Todd Blanche, immediately acknowledged. Blanche promised Merchan he could change Trump, saying he could “commit to the Court and the people that (former) President Trump will not reveal the truth about any witness,” the newspaper reported. Washington Post.
Merchan was not impressed. “I don’t think you can make that statement,” he responded, also rejecting Blanche’s offer to give him the names of the witnesses with the promise not to share them with his own client.
It was an extraordinary commentary on Trump’s self-defeating irresponsibility; the kind of behavior that earned him a conference on Tuesday objectively hampered his defense on Thursday.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, appearing on MSNBC, said the episode shows the court doesn’t trust Trump, but also doesn’t trust his lawyers. “When everyone acts in good faith and people follow the rules, it’s standard procedure” for prosecutors to share the next day’s witness list, he said.
“Obviously the judge has lost confidence in Todd Blanche,” Weissmann said. Normally, the judge would say, “I’ll give it to you, but you have to promise me,” he noted, “and that would usually work.”
Criminal defense attorney Ken White said this was an extremely bad development for Trump’s legal team. “It would be very difficult to overstate how serious it is not to know who the next witnesses will be,” White wrote on BlueSky. “The more witnesses there are and the more complicated the case, the worse it is,” he said, emphasizing that sharing witness lists is “(n)ot required by law, but by custom.
Want a daily summary of all the news and commentary the Show has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.
In other words, if one violates the norms, one should not be surprised when the norms disappear. For the former and future president, however, it’s an unusual feeling to not be the one in the room who takes the lead and always gets what he wants.
“It’s like Trump is trying to show the judge who’s boss and, in the end, it’s the judge, the person in the black robe in front of the courtroom,” said former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance at MSNBC. “This is a new and unique position for the former president.”
Trump may have thought that his actions would only cost him a charge of “contempt” and that fines – or even a day in jail – could bolster his claims of persecution without actually harming him, thereby reinforcing his perceived invincibility.
Renato Mariotti, another former prosecutor, said Thursday’s court decision would really sting. “Trump’s attacks on witnesses are finally having real consequences,” he wrote on social networks. “Judge Merchan exercising his discretion to penalize behavior that endangers witnesses will be a far more effective tool than a $1,000 fine.”
yahoo
