| | | Donald Trump's 'Self-Inflicted Wound' Could Cost Him Trial: Ex-Prosecutor
Published May 27, 2024 at 12:42 PM EDT
By Sean O'Driscoll
Senior Crime and Courts Reporter
Former President Donald Trump's repeated attacks on the judge in his criminal hush money case will be seen as disrespectful by the jury, a former prosecutor has said.
Jim Walden, a former federal prosecutor now in private practice, said that Trump doesn't seem to understand that juries have a good relationship with judges.
"The thing that I think Trump just doesn't get is, even if you don't like the judge, the jury is going to like the judge," Walden told The Washington Post on Monday. "When you're super disrespectful to someone the jury sees as a professional person doing their job, that's a self-inflicted wound."
"Whatever else Donald Trump may be—a great businessman, a great reality TV show host, a great politician—he's a dumb lawyer," Walden said. He added that Trump was too involved in his own legal defense.
Walden, who previously prosecuted organized crime cases in New York, said the worst defense mistake was calling attorney Robert Costello as a witness.
Costello, who had given legal advice to Trump's former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, was called by the defense to undermine Cohen's evidence.
Judge Juan Merchan was infuriated by Costello and accused him of interjecting with comments, rolling his eyes and staring at Merchan from the witness stand.
Merchan eventually cleared the courtroom of reporters and accused Costello of "contemptuous" behavior. He also challenged Costello to stare at him one more time.
"Costello was a disaster," Walden said. "The defense finally got some momentum, and it all got dialed back because Costello was playing to Trump instead of playing it straight. He had a good story to tell, and instead, they put the throttle right back in the prosecutor's hands."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's attorney via email for comment on Monday. Costello told Newsweek on Friday that he had no comment.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records in April 2023, arguing that the payment to Daniels was made through Cohen and that the payment was an illegal campaign contribution because it was intended to silence Daniels and thereby influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains that the case is politically motivated.
Cohen was later jailed for illegal campaign contributions, tax fraud and other charges. He is now an implacable opponent of Trump and they have attacked each other's characters on social media posts since the trial began.
Donald Trump's 'Self-Inflicted Wound' Could Cost Him Trial: Ex-Prosecutor (newsweek.com) |
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