Former President Donald Trump went on an overnight social media spree targeting the judge in his criminal trial and actor Robert DeNiro.
The former president spent the evening stewing on Truth Social about closing arguments in his hush money trial, complaining in all-caps rants that New York justice Juan Merchan refused to permit him to use an “advice of counsel” defense, which would have allowed him to argue that he had relied in good faith on legal advice from attorney Michael Cohen.
"I didn't have a fixer, I had a lawyer who, at that time, was fully accredited and accepted within the legal community, but the judge is now allowing me to use the reliance on counsel defense," Trump posted. "I may be the only person in the country not allowed to do so and, the only one who has a very unconstitutional and restrictive gag order. Not fair – freedom!"
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The judge ordered Trump's lawyers to disclose before the trial whether they would raise an "advice of counsel defense," and they said they would not but would instead offer "something called the presence of counsel," Merchan wrote, "which I had never heard of."
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"Can you imagine that I, as a defendant, am not allowed to rebut or correct the many lies told during the 5 hour filibuster just put on by the Soros backed D.A.'s office in the Manhattan court," Trump posted, referring to the closing argument by prosecutor Joshua Steinglass. "What a disgraceful performance of misrepresentation it was!!! MAGA2024."
Defendants deliver their closing arguments first in New York while prosecutors go last, but many states reverse that order but allow prosecutors to deliver a rebuttal since they bear the burden of proving guilt to the jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
Trump then turned his attention to DeNiro, who had joined president Joe Biden's campaign outside the courthouse to praise the heroism of former police officers Harry Dunn and Michael Fanone for their actions during the Jan. 6 riot, and the actor then argued with a bystander who interrupted to call them "traitors."
"I never knew how small, both mentally and physically, Wacko Former Actor Robert De Niro was," Trump posted. "Today, De Niro, who suffers from an incurable case of TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, commonly known in the medical community as TDS, was met, outside the Courthouse, with a force far greater than the Radical Left - MAGA. Robert, whose movies, artistry, and brand have gone WAY DOWN IN VALUE since he entered the political arena at the request of Crooked Joe Biden, looked so pathetic and sad out there. Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio!!!"
