E. Jean Carrol judge 'called Trump's bluff' and forced his lawyer's hand: former prosecutor

Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said Donald Trump's attempt to set up the judge in the E. Jean Carroll trial for attacks should the jury rule against the former president blew up in his face.

Speaking with fill-in host Michael Steele, Vance said U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan effectively outmaneuvered Trump after the former president suggested he would testify before the Manhattan jury and that created a problem for Trump's legal team.

By extending a deadline to late Sunday for Trump to commit to testify, Vance claimed the judge "called Trump's bluff."

"The judge has called Trump's bluff because Trump makes this overblown statement on a golf course in Ireland, telling people I have to cut my trip short early and go back home to defend myself against these terrible allegations," the attorney began. "Literally within hours of him doing that, his lawyer is in court, telling the judge that he is done presenting his evidence, that's sort of a lock in a trial."

"Once you close, everything is over, no more evidence comes in," she continued. "Judge Kaplan, I think, does the smart thing here; he calls Trump's bluff. He says okay, your client says he's going to testify, he says he has to leave Europe early and fly home. I'm gonna bend over backward and give him every opportunity. And ultimately, what the judge does by doing this, and I suspect Trump will not testify, if he does, that would be an entirely different situation for his lawyers to try to deal with, but what the judge does here is he forecloses Trump's opportunity to tell everybody what a terrible biased judge he had."

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MSNBC 05 07 2023 11 28 41 youtu.be