He had remained imperturbable until then. On Monday, the judge in charge of Donald Trump’s trial failed to contain himself. Faced with a lawyer called by the defense of the former President of the United States, Judge Juan Merchan lost the calm that made his reputation when he saw the witness question all his decisions. “Are you staring at me? » said the judge in disbelief, before requesting the evacuation of the courtroom.
Before that, lawyer Robert Costello had angered the judge by uttering a quiet “damn it” when the judge granted an objection. ” Pardon ? “, declared the judge, repeating, louder, “sorry? “.
“You don’t say damn”
Juan Merchan then sharply rebuked Robert Costello about “proper etiquette” to maintain in the courtroom. “If you don’t like my decision, you don’t say damn it, you don’t say erase” the trial minutes, he said. “I’m the only one who can say that.” However, Robert Costello did not give up, staring Juan Merchan straight in the eyes.
A respected judge who immigrated to the United States from Colombia with his parents when he was a child, Juan Merchan has a reputation among lawyers as a stern but fair judge. Throughout this historic and unprecedented trial for a former president of the United States, he saw colorful witnesses parade through his court and had to decide to protect them by prohibiting Donald Trump from speaking about them, going even to the point of threatening the billionaire with prison in the event of a new offense.
A payment of 130,000 dollars
Lawyer Robert Costello is suspected of approaching Michael Cohen in 2018 to promise Trump’s support. This man is a key witness for the prosecution since he directly incriminated the former American president. He notably claimed that his former boss had approved the payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels to buy her silence about a sexual relationship she claims to have had in 2006 with Donald Trump, then already married to his wife Melania. Donald Trump denies this relationship with the porn star.
Judge Juan Merchan declared at the resumption of the hearing on Monday that he intended to finish “this week” the examination of this case with considerable stakes for the Republican candidate for the presidential election in November.