Legal expert Alan Dershowitz recently criticized Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump. Dershowitz labeled Merchan a “tyrant” and slammed his “outrageous” ruling in the case, which he called to be televised so the American public could witness its absurdity.
Dershowitz made the comments during an appearance on Fox News’ “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” addressing Merchan’s recent threat to strike the testimony of Bob Costello, the defense’s primary witness. The legal expert claimed such conduct is tyrannical and would violate the Sixth Amendment.
“I’ve been in courthouses in every part of the world and in China, in Russia, in Ukraine, in Israel. I’ve been all over. I’ve never seen a spectacle like this. And that’s why it should have been on television, so the American public could see how outrageous this judge is. And CNN just does his bidding. CNN lies, lies through their teeth about what happened in court yesterday between Judge Merchan and Bob Costello. Bob Costello testifies, Merchan rules against him at every point, keeps out his testimony, makes outrageous rulings that any first-year student taking evidence would know was wrong,” Dershowitz said.
He further describes watching Judge Merchan lash out at Costello over the simple act of rolling his eyes and clearing the courtroom before doing so. Dershowitz stated that if Merchan were to strike down Costello’s testimony, as he threatened, it would call for a mistrial. He then suggested that the judge was bluffing since he didn’t act on it.
“And Bob Costello does what I did: He rolled his eyes. And I rolled my eyes, I said, I couldn’t believe the judge was making these rulings. And the judge, thinking he’s a tyrant, clears the courtroom, throws out everybody from the media. For some reason, they allowed me to stay, and I watched as the judge berated him. And the judge said something I have never seen in a courtroom in my history, 60 years. He threatened to strike the testimony of the main witness for the defendant because of punishment of the witness for staring at the judge. Can you imagine the violation of the Sixth Amendment? The Sixth Amendment allows any defendant to confront witnesses and to present evidence in his defense. Can you imagine if this judge had actually struck the testimony of Bob Costello? It would result in an automatic mistrial, new trial, and a verdict against the prosecution. The judge was bluffing. He ought to be disciplined for making that threat because the threat was an idle threat. He obviously didn’t act on it,” the legal scholar said.
Dershowitz added that Merchan’s actions amounted to an “outrageous threat” while asserting it is no wonder the trial is not publicly televised. “You can’t throw out a witness’s testimony and punish the defendant that way. It’s just an outrageous threat. And we didn’t see it because television is not allowed in the courtroom. … They just won’t allow the American public to watch this trial, and I don’t blame them. If I were the judge, I would never want this trial to be on television because he’s behaved so outrageously,” he added. Watch recent post-court comments from Trump below:
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