Trump Organization Fraud Trial Immediately Goes Off The Rails Trump Lawyers 'Confuse' Jurors - RoF

[TexasTowelie]

The tax fraud trial for the Trump Organization got underway Monday, and things immediately went off the rails as soon as the Trump Org's lawyers started talking. The judge had to send the jury out of the courtroom during opening statements because the Trump lawyers were trying to "confuse" them, as the judge put it. This is the worst start imaginable for Trump's team, as Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains.

=================

*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

So yesterday the fraud trial for the Trump organization got underway in Manhattan, and almost immediately everything went absolutely off the rails. Things got so bad while Trump's lawyers were giving their opening statement that the judge had to stop the lawyers and then send the jury out of the courtroom for 15 minutes while the judge scolded Donald Trump's legal team. Here is what happened. Uh, this, this is of course, according to Greg Walters from Vice who was, uh, kind of live tweeting what was happening in the courtroom. So let me read this. Judge Juan Mech, he pauses the defense lawyer's opening statement, releasing jurors outta the room for 15 minutes, saying he understands some of you need a break. Judge Merchant then cautions the lawyers in the room not to explain the law. After Trump organization, lawyers claimed that the case was really only about cheating on personal income taxes.

Uh, merchant then stated, I will permit you to say that he acted solely for his benefit, and that's it. It's a confusing area of the law, and for them to get confused at this point is not going to help anybody/ He continues, Man, I've never seen a judge excuse a jury for 15 minutes in the middle of an opening statement for those who've never sat through a trial before. Lawyers do not like to be disrupted while making these openers. It's their chance to paint the big picture for the jury, sending the jury out of the room during the defense lawyer's opening statements. I have never heard of that happening. I'm sure it probably has, but especially in a high profile case like this, I've never, ever, ever heard of that happening. And trust me, that's not something that these jurors are going to forget.

They were sent outta the room while Trump's lawyer was talking, so they know that lawyer did something they weren't supposed to do, and they're not going to forget that as the trial goes on, which is already a massive strike against the Trump organization's lawyers. In addition to that, the prosecution had three sustained objections while those defense lawyers were talking. So the defense lawyers got in trouble with the judge for confusing the jury. The jury had to leave the room multiple different times. The prosecution, those lawyers were able to say, Oh, hold up. Objection. This is totally wrong. And the judge was like, You're right. I go with you. This could not have been a worse day for those Trump lawyers, and it's not going to get any better from here on out. Your opening statement really is like the second most important thing you're gonna do in court. It's that op, it's the closing statement that really is, you know, the

Last battle, and that opening statement is where you put it all together. Then the trial itself is where you prove everything you said in the opening. Without that opening, without that strong opening, you are already playing from behind and it is near impossible to get caught back up once you get behind on your opening statement. I don't see any way that Trump's lawyers prevail here. I I truly don't. Not only because of all the overwhelming evidence that they have to fight back against, but the fact that they got off to such a horrendous start. I don't think these lawyers that Trump has hired are talented enough to win this case.