The jury has begun deliberating in Donald Trump's criminal case in Manhattan, and — as he has done most days of the trial — the former president ended the day by raging to reporters outside the courthouse about how unfair the whole process has been. But this time, he raised a novel complaint: there were tons of witnesses who could have exonerated him who were never called to testify.
"A lot of key witnesses were not called," said Trump. "Look at the list. Look at the players. And you know who I'm talking about, you can take five or six of them. Why didn't they call those witnesses? They didn't call them because they would have been on our side."
This comment earned immediate mockery from commenters on social media, who pointed out that Trump had a right to call those witnesses himself, and called barely anyone, aside from the former legal adviser to Michael Cohen, which backfired on him, and legal analyst Daniel Sitko.
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"Oh? And whose fault might that be?" wrote Georgia State law professor Anthony Michael Kreis.
"All those key witnesses you had your defense didn't call them to testify, banana brain," wrote podcaster Johnathan Ford.
"Pro Tip: A criminal defendant has subpoena power to compel any and all witnesses that would be helpful to their case to appear in court at trial," wrote former North Dakota U.S. Attorney Tim Purdon.
"That's on you, big guy," wrote documentary filmmaker Arlen Parsa. "The prosecution called 20 witnesses. The defense only chose to call *two*."
"He should have called Turley, Randy Quaid, Lee Greenwood, Scott Baio, and all of the other MAGA legal experts!" wrote political consultant Fred Wellman.
"You can see Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, standing next to him and thinking, 'Oh sh-t, was I supposed to call WITNESSES?!?'" wrote former President Barack Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod.
"Such a ridiculous lie," wrote Huffington Post White House correspondent S.V. Dáte. "He could have called [former Trump Organizaton CFO Allen] Weisselberg. He could have taken the stand himself. He chose not to."
"This is ridiculous," wrote Mother Jones D.C. bureau chief David Corn. "Trump could’ve called the witnesses he’s now complaining were not called by the prosecutors. He’s counting on his audience to be ignorant about basic courtroom procedures."
"The guy who could have called those witnesses is Todd Blanche," wrote actor Jon Cryer. "THE GUY STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO HIM."
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