Lawyer Alan Dershowitz trashed Judge Juan Merchan this week after the judge allegedly suffered an “outburst” during Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial in New York, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a surprising development to come after both the prosecution and the defense rested their cases on Tuesday, Dershowitz took to Daily Mail to pen a lengthy grievance about an incident that allegedly unfolded during the trial’s proceedings on Monday.
According to Dershowitz, Judge Merchan showed a “palpable bias” and “unhinged prejudice” against ex-President Trump on Monday when he snapped at witness Robert Costello during a short break in the trial.
Costello, Michael Cohen’s former legal advisor, refuted most of Cohen’s testimony regarding Trump’s alleged knowledge of the $130k hush money payment made to former adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Judge Merchan later dismissed much of Costello’s testimony as “hearsay” and “irrelevant,” and the pair reportedly battled back and forth after Costello was said to have “raised his eyebrows” at the judge in response to the surprising rulings.
“Do you raise your eyebrows at me?” Judge Merchan allegedly shouted at Costello on Monday after clearing the courtroom, according to Dershowitz. “Did you stare at me?”
Dershowitz compared the judge’s alleged behavior to a “paranoid schizophrenic,” a “nut on the street,” and the “psycho in the film Taxi Driver.”
The lawyer and law professor also cited Merchan’s “outburst” as evidence of the judge’s “apparent unhinged prejudice” against the embattled GOP frontrunner – particularly because Judge Merchan denied Trump “a right to confront his accuser through the testimony of others.”
“Judge Merchan denied Trump that right by unfairly limiting Costello's testimony,” Dershowitz charged in his Daily Mail article on Tuesday.
“But the judge truly revealed his apparent unhinged prejudice against Trump when he exploded after Costello, a lawyer himself, expressed his surprise over the mystifying rulings,” Dershowitz added.
According to Dershowitz, Judge Merchan’s behavior and rulings on Monday were “preposterous,” “unethical,” and “unconstitutional.”
“The idea that a judge would punish Trump by denying him an opportunity to present evidence over the actions of a witness is preposterous,” he wrote. “It's unethical. It's unconstitutional.”
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“It was one of the most shocking demonstrations of bias by a judge I've ever seen,” Dershowitz concluded.
Meanwhile, Dershowitz started his Daily Mail article on Tuesday by trashing Cohen over Cohen’s testimony regarding the suspected hush-money scandal involving himself, Trump, and Daniels.
While Dershowitz dubbed Trump’s former lawyer and fixer a “fabulist” and “admitted thief,” he also cast doubt on the truth of Cohen’s testimony.
“I wouldn't buy a used car from this man,” Dershowitz wrote before his remarks about Judge Merchan, “let alone rely on his testimony to send a presidential candidate to prison.”
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, both the prosecution and the defense rested their cases in Trump’s criminal hush money trial on Tuesday.
The court will reconvene next Tuesday for closing arguments, after which the jury is expected to deliberate on a verdict for ex-President Trump in connection to the current criminal charges against him.