Creative manipulation: How judge's words got a Trumpian twist

Donald Trump may be melting down on the witness stand, but you wouldn’t know that if you were just following what he and his legal team have to say about what’s going on in the courtroom where he’s testifying in a $250 million civil trial that threatens his ability to do business in New York.

During his lunch break, Trump went on Truth Social and posted a quote from Judge Arthur Engoron. “No, I’m not here to hear what [President Trump] has to say,” Trump claimed Engoron had said. Outside the courthouse, Trump attorney Alina Habba echoed that. “’I’m not here to hear what he has to say,’” she declaimed. “Then why exactly am I being paid as an attorney and why exactly are taxpayer dollars being used in this courtroom? The answer is very clear: Because Miss James wants to stand right here like she did this morning and call my client a liar,” Habba said, referring to New York Attorney General Letitia James.

What the judge actually said, according to reporter Adam Klasfeld, who’s in the courtroom, is: “I'm not here to hear what he has to say. He's here to answer questions.” In other words, Trump doesn’t just get to rant and ramble as if he were at one of his campaign rallies. He’s there to answer specific questions with legal significance, and that’s it. Which is what any witness in a trial is supposed to do.

Habba went on to go full scenery-chewing victim: