Alina Habba tears into hush money judge's 'unbelievable' behavior
Donald Trump's lawyer Alina Habba ripped New York Judge Juan Merchan for flashing 'anger' in the courtroom and accused him of unfairly ruling against Trump's attorneys in court. Her comments came in an appearance on Fox News, where she agreed with interviewer Jesse Waters' own slams on the judge, who is the target of the former president, on the day the defense and prosecution delivered impassioned closing arguments.
'It's unbelievable. I mean, you've seen it and and the way that the visceral reaction that this judge had when we had our one witness come up and he threw the press out. That kind of anger – that kind of TDS frankly – we saw it with De Niro today,' she said. She was referencing one of two defense witnesses, attorney Bob Costello. During Costello's testimony, the judge scolded the Rudy Giuliani attorney and cleared the courtroom following interjections during his testimony.
'If you don’t like my ruling you don’t say "jeez," you don’t say "strike it" because I’m the only one who can strike testimony in court,' Merchan told the witness. Merchan. 'You don’t give me side eye and you don’t roll your eyes,' he said. Her use of the acronym TDS refers to what Trump calls 'Trump Derangement Syndrom.' The former president used it Wednesday in his own attack on DeNiro, a day after the Taxi Driver star showed up outside Manhattan Criminal Court at a press conference organized by the Biden campaign and accused Trump of wanting to destroy the world. And Trump attacked Merchan online, calling him a 'CORRUPT AND CONFLICTED JUDGE.'
Habba also spoke to how the jury would respond, hours before a dozen jurors were set to meet in seclusion after first appearing in open court with Merchan. 'But that is what we're challenged with,' she said. 'We're dealing with people that are either going to believe a story – it was like sitting in make-believe land with the prosecution today – or you're going to listen to the facts.' Habba even ventured a prediction about what the jury would do.
'Honestly if they do the right thing, considering that we're in New York, I think that we should get a hung jury,' she said, pointing to a situation where one or more jurors could hold out and prevent a conviction. That could force the judge to send them back for further deliberations. If the jury can't reach a verdict, prosecutors would have to decide whether to try the case again. As for timing, Habba predicted ' maybe three days max, I hope so. But to me it should be an acquittal.'
Her blasts came days after she rapped the judge for sending jurors home for the long Memorial Day weekend rather than sequestering them in a hotel, arguing it presented an opportunity for outside influence. 'These jurors are handling something that is completely unprecedented and unwarranted in America and for them to be out and about on a holiday weekend with friends and families who have opinions—who are watching the news, TV is on in the background at the pool party—I have serious concerns,' she said.
Judge Merchan hasn't given Trump lawyer Todd Blanche and his team everything they wanted - allowing Stormy Daniels to testify, and ruling against some of their objections. But he also faulted Trump's team for failing to raise more objections. Although Merchan has imposed a gag order on Trump for comments about witnesses and court personnel, he has not applied it to attacks on himself or DA Alvin Bragg.
Merchan hasn't always sided with prosecutors. At the end of closing arguments Tuesday, Trump's lawyer objected when prosecutor Josh Steinglass said 'Trump can't shoot anyone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.' Trump's team objected to the remark, and the judge sustained it.
In a key moment during Blanche's closing arguments, Merchan admonished the defense for mentioning the threat of prison time while arguing before the jury. 'It’s simply not allowed. Period,' the judge scolded him. 'It’s hard for me to imagine how that was accidental in any way.'
