NEW YORK — New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan blamed Donald Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles in court Thursday for not sufficiently objecting in real time to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels’s detailed testimony this week — and again said Daniels’s testimony does not warrant a mistrial.
In the lead-up to his ruling against a mistrial, Merchan observed that there were “many times when Ms. Necheles could have objected but didn’t.” The judge acknowledged that he wished New York prosecutors hadn’t asked Daniels certain questions. But in a biting review of Necheles’s performance as Trump’s defense lawyer, Merchan cited one incident as a key example: Daniels’s allegation Tuesday that Trump did not use a condom when they had sex. Trump and his team have previously denied he had sex with Daniels.
“Why on earth she wouldn’t object to the mention of a condom, I don’t understand,” Merchan said.
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During her testimony Tuesday, Daniels described her alleged 2006 sexual encounter with Trump in a way that could be viewed as unwanted, though she did not say she was assaulted. She told prosecutors that she was concerned Trump did not use a condom but that she never expressed that to him. Trump’s lawyers argued Thursday that Daniels’s testimony amounted to a “dog whistle for rape.” In ruling against the defense’s motion for a mistrial, Merchan said that prosecutors had the right to “rehabilitate” Daniels’s credibility to the jury, given that Trump’s team denies a sexual encounter ever took place. He also criticized the cross-examination for going into “ad nauseam” details about Daniels’s testimony.
Trump appeared angry in the courtroom, as Merchan denied his legal team’s efforts to partially lift a gag order that prevents him from attacking Daniels and to toss the case entirely. As he exited the courthouse, Trump kept his remarks brief. He called Merchan “corrupt” and “totally conflicted.”
“We are so innocent,” he said. More than hour after leaving the courtroom, Trump posted on social media that Merchan “IS PRESIDING OVER THE DEATH OF THE NEW YORK CITY AND STATE SYSTEM OF JUSTICE.”
Trump is charged with falsifying his business records to cover up a payment made by his former attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels to remain silent about the alleged sexual encounter ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors want to show Trump falsified his records when categorizing the reimbursement of the hush money payment to Daniels to conceal election-related crimes
As he entered the courtroom Thursday, Trump predicted: “I think you’ll see some very interesting things today.”
Necheles cross-examined Daniels, seeking a discrepancy between her responses to the prosecution’s questions earlier this week and what she has said in public over the years about the encounter, including whether she had dinner with Trump, and trying to paint Daniels as someone with little credibility who sought to profit off her alleged encounter with Trump. (In one example, Necheles showed an image of a “Stormy Saint of Indictments” candle she has for sale online.)
Trump has not publicly expressed dissatisfaction with his legal team. And being Trump’s attorney is no easy task: He has a history of firing his attorneys. He has at times frustrated his legal team by asking advice on his cases from other attorneys or posting on social media without their knowledge. He’s also proved to be an active client, reading the court filing in all his cases before they are submitted.
“I want to thank my lawyers,” Trump said Thursday morning. “They’ve done a very good job, but I’d rather thank them after it’s over, as opposed to now because we don’t want them to get carried away because there’s no case.”
Perry Stein contributed to this report.
