NEXT STEPS: Trump lawyers try to salvage DEVASTATING testimony with new motions
Attorneys for former president Donald Trump introduced a few motions in his NY fraud trial today that they are still considering.
After Trump finished testifying in the fraud case against him, his attorneys had a few more issues to float before the judge. They included a potential motion for mistrial, and reiteration of old complaints about the gag order that he issued early in the case.
After Trump attacked the judge’s clerk in public statements and online, linking his fans to her social media and dropping unfounded allegations about her role in politics and the trial, Judge Arthur Engoron placed a gag order.
It was quite limited, only barring Trump from making public statements about Engoron’s staff, and leaving himself and Attorney General Letitia James as permitted targets.
Now Trump’s attorneys want to challenge this, because, as one of them, Chris Kise argues, “There’s no way to file that motion without referencing the subject matter,” as Adam Klasfeld quotes from the courtroom.
Engoron was firm that it’s his job to protect his staff, and that the gag order is necessary for their safety, but after conferring with said clerk, he gave the go-ahead for the filing, which another of Trump’s attorneys, Alina Habba, affirmed she intends to do.
The attorneys did not lay out exactly what the grounds will be for a requesting a mistrial, though this exchange suggests that Engoron’s clerk will be a part of it. In addition to Trump’s public statements about her, his attorneys have complained in court that they feel she is making commentary on their questions via facial expression.
Engoron does not appear concerned. Hugo Lowell quotes his response to Trump’s legal team:
“I am 1000 percent convinced you don’t have the right or reason to complain about my confidential communications.”
Trump’s attorneys brought this up previously, when they were warned last week that their continued comments about the clerk could result in an expanded version of the order. They continued with a poorly-sourced allegation of wrongdoing, and suggested that they would seek a mistrial based on a perception of bias. Forbes reported at the time:
“Kise refused to drop the issue, saying, ‘The entire country, if not the world, is watching this proceeding’ and pointing to a Breitbart piece published Thursday, which claimed a Twitter user submitted a complaint to the New York State Bar Association that takes issue with the clerk’s purported ‘partisan political and Democratic activities.’”
Despite Engoron’s explanation that the Breitbart article was sourced only through a single anonymous Twitter user, and that this was merely an allegation, not information, Habba and Kise seem prepared to go forward, especially after Trump’s bad day on the witness stand.
