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