Costello Claims Trump’s Silence Judge ‘Totally Overreacted’ to His Testimony

Robert Costello, former legal counsel to former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, said the judge in former President Trump’s trial “completely overreacted” in admonishing him for his behavior in court during his testimony.

Costello pointed to several instances in which he believes Judge Juan Merchan attacked him during his time on the Manhattan court. One case involved the judge allegedly accusing the witness of trying to stare at him.

“I think I mumbled… ‘Holy crap’… That’s all I did. The judge then started complaining… I had to turn to the right to look at him,” Costello told hosts John Catsimatidis and Rita Cosby on Friday. fair on the “Cats and Cosby Show.” “That’s what you normally do when someone is talking to you.”

He continued: “He immediately said, ‘Are you trying to stare at me?’… [I said], ‘No. Can I explain? And he said, ‘No. This is not an argument.'”

Costello added that the judge also claimed he rolled his eyes – which he said Merchan would not have been able to see.

“A: I don’t believe he was. B: If he was, he couldn’t have seen it because he’s behind me and to my right, and I was looking to the left, toward the jury box,” the witness said. Friday.

Merchan, at one point, had jurors leave the courtroom so he could admonish Costello about his decorum on the stand.

His recap of the scene came a day after Trump was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his Manhattan money-hiding case. The case was related to a payment made to an adult film actress in the first days of the 2016 elections to cover up an alleged affair, which the former president denied.

Costello said he expected a hung jury but was “misled.”

“I gave them more credit than they deserved…Judge Merchan helped them along that path [to a conviction] with his accusation, which was absolutely absurd,” he said.

Asked by Cosby what he thought of Merchan, Costello said he thinks the judge’s treatment of him was related to his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee before Trump’s trial began. During the committee hearing, he asked why Merchan was involved in so many Trump-related trials.

“My guess is he saw that and was probably annoyed with me for saying that, and was waiting for an opportunity and took it,” Costello said. “But he totally exaggerated.”

The co-host suggested that Trump’s defense team decide not to present any additional witnesses after seeing how Merchan acted toward Costello, the only defense witness.

“It was an unfortunate experience caused by a thin-skinned judge who completely overreacted,” said Cohen’s former aide. “But perhaps he did it on purpose, because no rational judge would have engaged in behavior like this.”

He added: “I’ve been a lawyer for a long time […] I’ve never had a judge try to punish me like that and say, ‘Your behavior is dismissive,’ especially since he was responsible for two-thirds of the charges.”

The judge set Trump’s sentencing hearing for July 11, just four days before the Republican National Convention — where he will be formally nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate. The former president must appeal the conviction.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story