Buried in a deep dive into the problems Donald Trump is creating for his legal teams, the New York Times is reporting that the former president's lead attorney Tod Blanche, in the upcoming hush money trial is already off to a rough start with Judge Juan Manuel Merchan.
Trump's first criminal trial is slated to start on March 25 with jury selection for the case where the former president is charged with 34 felony counts of falsification of business records by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg related to money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
With the Times reporting that Trump is creating problems for his lawyers by interfering with their legal strategies, Trump's appearance in Merchan's courtroom is already causing worries about things going off the rails should he take the stand.
The new report states that Trump's lawyers fret he may want to take the stand, with the Times reporting, "Lawyers who have represented Mr. Trump view the prospect of him testifying before Justice Merchan as potentially disastrous. The judge is a no-nonsense jurist who presided over the conviction of Mr. Trump’s family business in a tax fraud trial."
Adding to that, Blanche has already been brutally rebuked by Merchan while he attempted to make a case for a delay in a pre-trial hearing.
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According to the report, "They [Trump lawyers Blanche and Susan Necheles] recently appeared before Justice Merchan at a pretrial hearing with their client mostly silent beside them, and seemed to test the tightrope he will walk during the trial. Mr. Trump wanted to delay it, but the judge promptly set a March date."
"Mr. Blanche lodged objections, none of which swayed Justice Merchan, who quickly bridled. 'Tell me something you haven’t already said today,' the judge said," the report states before adding, "Shortly thereafter, Justice Merchan asked Mr. Blanche if he was done talking. He was not, but the judge cut him off, instructing Mr. Blanche to 'please have a seat.'"
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