The 2nd and likely last witness for the Defense made quite the impression today.... (disrepecting a judge won't get you far with a jury):
Defense witness Robert Costello spoke back to Justice Juan Merchan and made disrespectful gestures, prompting the judge to scold him and throw all reporters out of the room in Donald Trump’s hush money trial so that he could have a talk with Costello. Merchan refused to reconsider the highly unusual move of sealing the courtroom in a monumentally important case.
Costello repeatedly spoke over Merchan’s sustained objections, which witnesses sometimes do to have the jury hear what they want to say even if the questions asked are prohibited. In Costello’s case, he continued to do it.
The witness muttered “jeez” loud enough for Merchan to hear from several feet away, and Costello held up a hand in a gesture of frustration. The judge sustained several prosecution objections in a row, handicapping Costello’s ability to answer.
“What did you say?” Merchan said. “What did you say?”
Before Merchan told the people in the gallery to leave the room, the fired-up jurist asked the jury to leave so that he could have a more concentrated talk with Costello.
“I would like to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom,” Merchan said. “So when there is a witness on the stand, if you don’t like my ruling, you don’t say ‘jeez,’ okay? And then don’t say ‘strike it,’ because I am the only one who can strike testimony in the courtroom.”
“If you don’t like my rulings, then you don’t give me side-eye and you don’t roll your eyes,” Merchan continued.
