Donald Trump insiders and courthouse observers are increasingly agreeing that the former president is not being afforded the best defense possible in his Manhattan hush money trial because of demands he is putting upon his lawyers.
At the conclusion of the second week of the trial where the former president is charged with 34 felony counts, it is increasingly apparent that Trump is "hamstringing" his legal team by not allowing them to admit he's not perfect, according to a deep dive by the New York Times.
As The Times report notes, the praise the former president's lawyers have been lavishing on him in front of the jury "reflected specific input from Mr. Trump, people with knowledge of the matter said, and it echoed his absolutist approach to his first criminal trial."
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At issue is what appears to be restrictions on the ex-president's legal team that cannot in any way admit he may have made mistakes when attempting to keep information about his alleged affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels quiet before the 2016 election.
"Mr. Trump’s legal strategy mirrors his political talking points as his lawyers portray the case as an unjust assault on the former president’s character," the Times is reporting before adding, "People in Mr. Trump’s legal orbit have privately observed that the effort to humanize him might be a tough sell to a jury in New York, his hometown, where his presidency was wildly unpopular and his sexual dalliances were gossip-page staples."
Former prosecutor turned defense attorney Roland G. Riopelle pointed out, "... part of being a lawyer and being in a service business is pleasing the client — and I’m sure this client is difficult to please.”
J. Bruce Maffeo, a former federal prosecutor, agreed by suggesting, "Trying the case to your client’s vanity, rather than to the jury, is a losing game."
The Times report continued, "Mr. Trump is known to be mercurial and prone to outbursts. In private, he has dressed down lawyers in several of his cases, even questioning their entire strategy just minutes before they were set to appear in court, people who have seen him in action say," before adding, "Prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney’s office, for now at least, have the upper hand, enjoying a set of salacious facts, a list of insider witnesses and a jury pool drawn from an overwhelmingly Democratic county."
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