Judge threatens to throw witness out of court for behaviour on stand
The judge in Donald Trump’s hush money trial cleared the courtroom of reporters Monday and then threatened to remove the defence’s witness from the trial after his behaviour on the stand, a court transcript shows.
Judge Juan M. Merchan told Robert Costello, a former federal prosecutor, that his conduct was “contemptuous right now.”
Costello aggravated Merchan repeatedly in his testimony by making comments under his breath and continuing to speak after objections were sustained — a signal to witnesses to stop talking. At one point, Costello remarked “jeez” when he was cut off by an objection. He also called the whole exercise “ridiculous.”
“I’m putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous,” Merchan said, according to the transcript of the conversation that occurred when the press was out of the room. ”If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand.”
Costello didn’t return a message seeking comment Monday night.
Costello is relevant to the case because of his role as an antagonist to Trump attorney-turned-adversary Michael Cohen since their professional relationship splintered in spectacular fashion.
Cohen was the last witness — at least for now — for prosecutors, who are trying to prove that Trump sought to bury unflattering stories about himself and then falsified internal business records to cover it up as part of a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election. The defence has painted Cohen as a media-obsessed liar who is on a revenge mission aimed at taking down Trump.
Back on the witness stand for a fourth day, Cohen told jurors earlier Monday that he stole from the Trump Organization after his 2016 holiday bonus was slashed to $50,000 (U.S.) from the $150,000 he usually received.
Cohen claimed to have paid $50,000 to a technology firm for its work artificially boosting Trump’s standing in a CNBC online poll about famous businessmen. Cohen said he gave the firm only $20,000 in cash in a brown paper bag, but he sought reimbursement from Trump for the full amount, pocketing the difference.
The trial will resume Tuesday with more testimony from Costello.