Manhattan Criminal Court — Laughter erupted Thursday during former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial when his attorney made a plea to the judge — and received a swift and stern "No."
Todd Blanche asked to approach Judge Juan Merchan within the first 15 minutes of his second day of cross-examining Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen.
The first five minutes saw Blanche apologize three times and prosecutors successfully object to his wording twice.
Blanche appeared to struggle to frame questions about Cohen's communications with Detective Jeremy Rosenberg about a New York Times article on the indictment.
"I’m sorry I don’t understand your question," Cohen told Blanche. "It's confusing."
"Did Detective Rosenberg tell you they told the New York Times about the indictment before they told you?" Blanche demanded.
At this point, Merchan interjected with his own clarification question: "When you say they, who are you referring to?"
When Blanche then pivoted to a CNN interview in which Cohen compared himself to David and Trump a "Goliath on his back," he asked for an opportunity to speak with the judge, and got his laughter-evoking "No."
Cohen appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court Thursday for his second day of cross-examination in Trump’s ongoing trial on charges that he falsified business records to hide hush money paid ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen says he helped Trump funnel funds to adult film star Stormy Daniels and was later reimbursed by Trump, who denies an affair with Daniels and has pleaded not guilty to charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
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Tensions ran high on the 15th floor of Manhattan Criminal Court as those once close to Cohen warned he might "fly off the handle," despite a performance during cross on Tuesday that earned him kudos from multiple legal experts.
The pressure is also on Trump's lawyers, especially Blanche, to discredit the prosecution's star witness.
"The cross cannot be worse than last session, so Blanche has set the bar low for today," said former prosecutor Andrew Weissmann. "Right now: not a lot to do to clean up any points, if anything, on redirect by the state."
Behind Trump, clad in a blue blazer and red tie, sat his son Eric and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), neither of whom mimicked the former president's iconic ensemble, as several allies did earlier this week. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) was also in attendance.
