Trump's lawyers' aimless attacks are hurting their client's defense: legal experts
The political histrionics are falling flat.
Some legal experts are throwing popcorn at the performance inside and outside of the Lower Manhattan courtroom by former President Donald Trump's esquires, causing some to wonder if they are out of their depth.
"Spoken like a lawyer who: (1) doesn’t try cases and (2) doesn’t know how to act in front of a judge," MSNBC legal analyst Katie Phang on Twitter/X, and first reported by Salon.
"What a terrible look for this lawyer," Georgia State University Law professor Eric Segall tweeted.
Attorney and legal analyst Bradley Moss curtly posted: "Get over it."
Trump's attorney Alina Habba, who also serves as general counsel to and legal spokeswoman for pro-Trump Save America, was admonished by New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron on Monday after she apparently couldn't keep her client, Donald Trump, from filibustering on the stand.
As a witness, Trump appeared to mostly bluster between answering some questions asked by New York Attorney General Letitia James' prosecution on Monday.
The drama of Trump's tangential tone had him knocking the process, the prosecutors and the judge himself.
"I beseech you to control him. If you can't, I will. I will excuse him and draw every negative inference," Judge Arthur Engoron said.
That led Habba to take her appeal to the court of public opinion outside, where a gaggle of reporters received her.
"'I'm not here to hear what he has to say,'" she quoted the judge as having said about Trump's tangents. "Then why exactly am I being paid as an attorney? The answer is very clear. Because [NY Attorney General Letitia James] wants to stand right here like she did this morning and call my client a liar."
She continued: "And if we don't stop corruption in courtrooms where attorneys are gagged, where attorneys are not allowed to say what they need to say to protect their clients' interests, it doesn't matter what your politics are. But I was told to sit down today. I was yelled at, and I've had a judge who is unhinged slamming a table... Let me be very clear, I don't tolerate that in my life. I'm not going to tolerate it here."
Habba didn't explain what she intended to do about it in court. Trump's lawyer Chris Kise has already indicated he will be appealing the case.
Last month, Engoron ordered in the civil fraud trial that some of Trump's business licenses should be yanked as a punishment for undermining banks, insurers and others by hyping the value of his assets and ballooning his net worth to acquire better loans, deals and tax benefits.