Former President Donald Trump’s Thursday courtroom tirade could backfire, legal experts warn.

Trump attorney Chris Kise asked Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing Trump’s New York fraud trial, to allow Trump to speak on his own behalf during closing arguments. Engoron asked Trump if he would agree to stick to the facts and relevant law but the former president launched into a lengthy diatribe, accusing the judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James of waging a “political witch hunt” and demanding “damages” because the real “fraud is on me.”

During one portion of his rant, Trump referred to a key allegation in James’ lawsuit alleging that the former president’s Trump Tower penthouse was valued at three times larger than it actually is.

“They made a mistake. It was an honest mistake,” Trump said.

James’ team allowed Trump to speak until the judge ultimately shut him down and pleaded for Kise to “control your client.”

“There may be a reason that James’ staff didn’t interrupt,” wrote NBC News legal analyst Lisa Rubin. “The AG’s office may have struck gold because some of what Trump said was so damaging to him, especially his explanation of the triplex square footage ‘error.’”

  • xantoxis@lemmy.world
    581·
    10 months ago

    The sentence, “Former President Donald Trump’s Thursday courtroom tirade could backfire,” is so fucking funny. I’m sorry, was this a strategy?? Did a team of legal experts come up with a plan which included a senile fascist screaming at a judge for 6 minutes? Did that seem like it was going to go in his favor???

    • yuriy@lemmy.world
      22·
      10 months ago

      I saw it pointed out elsewhere that they may have been hoping the judge would lose his cool in some manner that would warrent an appeal or retrial.

      • xantoxis@lemmy.world
        20·
        10 months ago

        I don’t see that mattering since they were always going to appeal. Trump has never quietly accepted a consequence in his life, why would he start now.

        On the other hand, you may be right: These are some mighty incompetent defense lawyers, and they may have thought this would help.

        • Facebones@reddthat.com
          101·
          10 months ago

          Basically any case right now is a SCOTUS case, and that’s a stacked deck.

          So that’s fun.

    • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
      1·
      10 months ago

      Apparently so. Rolling Stone ran an article where they claim to have been informed by sources that the rant was rehearsed.

      According to two people familiar with the matter who spoke to Rolling Stone, in recent weeks Trump had told several close allies of his intention to personally deliver a closing argument, and at times previewed some of the things he wanted to say before the judge. One of the sources describes it as the ex-president informally “rehearsing” his spite-filled court monologue for his friends.

      This idiot thinks he’s in a courtroom drama.