'Contemptuous': Transcript reveals hush money judge threatened key Trump witness

Former President Donald Trump's witness at his Manhattan criminal trial raised a massive stir after his conduct forced Judge Juan Merchan to clear the courtroom — but that's not all that happened.

Merchan further threatened that he would remove Robert Costello from the witness stand if there were any further breaches of decorum in the courtroom, according to court transcripts obtained by Lawfare's Anna Bower.

Costello, the former legal adviser for Trump's estranged attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, was called to court at Trump's insistence — reportedly over the misgivings of some of his legal team — to echo claims he made to a Republican-controlled House committee last week, that Cohen has been lying to the court and previously told Costello that he had no criminal information on Trump when Cohen himself was facing criminal prosecution.

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But things went off the rails when he openly antagonized the judge, complaining about Merchan's orders and glaring at him.

The transcripts show just how angry Merchan was about the breakdown of order, after he cleared his courtroom.

"The fact that I had to clear the courtroom and that the court officers, including the Captain, had great difficulty clearing the courtroom, and that there was argument back and forth between the press and including counsel for the press, goes to why I had to clear the courtroom in the first place," said Merchan.

"And that is, sir, your conduct is contemptuous right now. I'm putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand."

This comes as the prosecution is preparing to give its closing arguments, and as the defense appears to have little more to add other than the move to call Costello.

It also comes after several days of exhaustive cross-examination of Cohen himself, who testified extensively to Trump's involvement in the hush payment scheme but also admitted to some problematic information, including that he stole $30,000 from the Trump Organization.

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