The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s ongoing hush-money trial ripped into one of the former president’s witnesses Monday for heckling his rulings — then cleared the courtroom of journalists to scold the witness some more.
The witness, attorney Robert Costello, was called by the defense to attack the credibility of key prosecution witness Michael Cohen.
But the Nassau County-based attorney repeatedly chafed at being interrupted by the judge sustaining prosecution objections, at one point muttering “Jeez” and “Ridiculous.”
Within minutes of taking the stand, Costello was in open conflict with New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, the judge presiding over the case.
“Mr. Costello I wanted to — I’d like to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom, ok?” Merchan began, after dismissing the jury from the courtroom.
“If you don’t like my ruling you don’t say ‘Jeez,” you don’t give me side eye, and you don’t roll your eyes,” the judge scolded.
“You don’t say ‘strike it,'” the judge told the witness, adding that it’s his job, not the witness’ to strike testimony.
In response to the scolding, Costello glared at the judge. “Are you staring me down?” the judge asked him angrily.
“Clear the courtroom!” he ordered.
The tumult erupted on a busy day of court, during which the prosecution rested, the defense began its case, and a revised schedule for the rest of the trial was revealed.
Closing arguments and the start of deliberations have now been pushed back to the Tuesday after Memorial Day.
“That was an incredible display,” Trump would later tell reporters as he left for the day, calling Merchan “a tyrant.”
The judge shouting, “Clear the courtroom!” set off a loud chain reaction in the courtroom.
Shouting court officers demanded journalists leave — and many of them shouted back in protest as they did so. Lawyers and the front-row entourages of the defense and the prosecution were allowed to remain.
Robert Balin, an attorney representing a consortium of media organizations, protested but was removed as well, with a court officer leading him out by the arm.
The video and audio feed to the court’s overflow room — a second courtroom where press and members of the public watch the trial on screens — was cut off.
After less than five minutes, journalists were led back into the courtroom, and questioning from Trump’s lawyer, Emil Bove, resumed.
Ahead of Costello’s testimony, Merchan issued rulings limiting what Costello would be permitted to testify about.
Cohen — the prosecution’s key witness — had previously testified that Costello was part of Trump’s “pressure campaign” to keep him from flipping against Trump in 2018. Costello served as a “back channel” to Trump through his friend, the lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Cohen said.
Trump’s lawyers had hoped to use Costello’s testimony to impeach Cohen’s credibility on this “pressure campaign” point.
But Merchan said Trump’s lawyer, Bove, could only elicit testimony from Costello about prior inconsistent statements Cohen may have made about a limited set of meetings and calls between them.
Bove could not instigate a “trial within a trial,” the judge ordered, by asking Costello questions beyond this limited topic.
Bove asked such questions anyway. Merchan repeatedly sustained objections from prosecutors and called sidebar conferences, which journalists could not hear.
And Costello repeatedly ignored the judge and tried to answer questions that had been successfully objected to.
At one point, Costello audibly said “ridiculous” from the witness stand and let out a heavy sigh when the judge told him not to answer a question.
Costello backed up the narrative from Trump’s lawyers that Cohen paid hush money to Stormy Daniels on his own, without Trump’s knowledge.
“Michael Cohen said numerous times that President Trump knew nothing about these payments,” Costello said. “That he did this on his own. And he did this numerous times.”
Costello has been a frequent critic of the Manhattan District Attorney’s case against Trump.
He spoke in front of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives committee on the “weaponization of government,” echoing Trump’s claims that the case is politically motivated.
The trial continues Tuesday morning with the continuation of the defense case. Costello was their second witness.
The defense began its direct case by calling a paralegal who works for Blanche to the stand. The paralegal, Daniel Citco, showed jurors a spreadsheet showing that Cohen initiated the majority of calls between himself and Costello in May and June of 2018, during the alleged pressure campaign.
This story was updated to add detail.
