Former President Donald Trump took the stand in his fraud trial in New York City on Monday. As could be expected, both his appearance and the courtroom goings on that resulted were incredibly explosive, with Trump reportedly enraging Judge Engoron and Trump lawyer and spokeswoman Alina Habba torching the judge for his “unhinged” response to Trump.
Describing what happened in the courtroom in a series of comments to the press after the day’s courtroom appearance wrapped up, Ms. Habba tore into Judge Engoron and his antics during the hearing, calling him “unhinged” and describing his demeaning behavior toward both her and the former president as intolerable.
She said, “I was told to sit down today. I was yelled at, and I’ve had a judge who is unhinged slamming a table. Let me be very clear, I don’t tolerate that in my life, and I am not going to tolerate it here. And you know what? You shouldn’t either. Because not every American citizen gets to have a camera and a microphone, and what I’m seeing is such a demise of the American judicial system and democracy.”
Continuing, she added, “This is a judge who clearly has an issue if you’ve seen his behavior with me, you’ve seen his behavior with the president today. He has a clear issue with facts that are not good for the case because he already predetermined [the outcome]… So right now, we are sitting here doing a whole dance and the only thing they want are facts that are bad for Trump. That’s why is silencing him. That’s why he’s telling him short answers and why he’s clearly enraged, his face is red. He came in hot and he doesn’t know how to handle him.”
Watch Habba here:
JUST IN: Donald Trump's attorney Alina Habba says judge Arthur Engoron had an unhinged episode in the court room where he started "slamming" a table.
Kangaroo court.
"You have a right to hire a lawyer who can stand up and stay something when they see something wrong."
"I was… pic.twitter.com/h1ytdEujBu
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) November 6, 2023
Speaking to Newsmax’s Eric Bolling, Habba praised Trump for his powerful testimony, saying, “We had a very strong day today. Don was clear, concise, made it very clear that he relied on professionals and I think the testimony speaks for itself, frankly.”
Continuing, she added, “They did nothing wrong. This is not a witch hunt that has any meat to it—most of them are completely nonsensical, as we know—but it was an event for Letitia James to show up and have her press moment and that’s why this is all happening. Let’s just not get it twisted, it’s political.”
She also argued that AG James’ strategy isn’t working, saying, “Unfortunately, it’s not working for them. If you look at the poll numbers, he’s doing amazing. And frankly, they’re just giving him a platform. Does it mean it’s right? No, but they [James’ office] are miscalculating their steps.”
Adam Klasfeld, Senior Legal Correspondent for The Messenger, kept up a live tweet feed of what happened in the courtroom during the hearing. According to Klasfeld’s tweets about what was going on, the hearing was full of exchanges at least as contentious as what Habba claimed, such as this one:
Trump:
"This is a very unfair trial. Very, very unfair, and I hope the public is watching it."
— Adam Klasfeld (@KlasfeldReports) November 6, 2023
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video
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