Former President Donald Trump’s Thursday courtroom tirade could backfire, legal experts warn.
Trump attorney Chris Kise asked Judge Arthur Engoron, who is overseeing Trump’s New York fraud trial, to allow Trump to speak on his own behalf during closing arguments. Engoron asked Trump if he would agree to stick to the facts and relevant law but the former president launched into a lengthy diatribe, accusing the judge and New York Attorney General Letitia James of waging a “political witch hunt” and demanding “damages” because the real “fraud is on me.”
During one portion of his rant, Trump referred to a key allegation in James’ lawsuit alleging that the former president’s Trump Tower penthouse was valued at three times larger than it actually is.
"They made a mistake. It was an honest mistake," Trump said.
James’ team allowed Trump to speak until the judge ultimately shut him down and pleaded for Kise to “control your client.”
“There may be a reason that James' staff didn't interrupt,” wrote NBC News legal analyst Lisa Rubin. “The AG’s office may have struck gold because some of what Trump said was so damaging to him, especially his explanation of the triplex square footage ‘error.’”
Former New York prosecutor Charles Coleman Jr. agreed that Trump “hurt himself” with the outburst.
"I think that what he was trying to do was force the judge into a position where, by denying him an opportunity to speak, he would have created an issue for appeal for himself,” he told MSNBC on Friday.
"Judge Engoron basically gave him the rope, and he hung himself, predictably," he continued. "What he ended up doing was creating a space where this is one less thing that becomes an appealable issue in the long run for an appeal. That he might be able to go back and say, 'Look, I was treated unfairly and my rights were abridged in some way, shape, form or fashion.'"
Coleman said Engoron took a “calculated risk” by allowing Trump to ramble.
“He understood that there was a risk that this could happen, but, ultimately, it didn't play a factor in the way Donald Trump wanted it to," he said.
Coleman also questioned Trump’s legal team for allowing their client to behave that way in court.
"Even if you had a client who wanted to testify, and you thought that was a bad idea, and you still allowed that client to exercise their right to testify during your closing argument, you are absolutely not allowing your client to leave that judge or that jury with the final impression of what it is that your case represents," Coleman told MSNBC. "Particularly if you know or have any inkling that that client is going to get on the stand and get in the well and gesticulate and berate the court officers and berate the judge and the entire justice system that is responsible for conducting this hearing, that you are an officiant of, as a lawyer, you're not going to do that."
Former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg, who was in the courtroom, told CNN she was stunned to “see somebody have so much disrespect” for the judge and the court.
"The attacks on — the personal attacks on the judge — this is a judge who had a bomb threat this morning. That's why the amount of security that was in the courthouse was unlike anything I have seen. and I have been other days when various Trump family members have testified, and this was heightened. They were very concerned about threats,” she said.
"I'm waiting for the judge to tell him 'You're done and if you continue you'll be held in contempt!'” she added. "That's what happened to me and any other lawyers happening in courts and it was not done."
Engoron is expected to issue a ruling by Jan. 31.
