Trump's lawyers CRASH AND BURN with failure during trial

you're watching the legal breakdown okay

so Glenn we have a blockbuster day in

Trump's New York criminal trial his

attorneys again moved for a mistrial

plus a major mistake that I think is

going to cost them with the jury we're

going to cover all of that but first

just a reminder that Glenn and I will be

doing daily comprehensive coverage of

this criminal trial in New York so if

you want to follow along please make

sure to subscribe okay Glenn first off

Trump's team wanted to preclude Karen

McDougall that's another woman he had an

affair with from testifying and the news

here is that the DA's office has

notified the defense that it will not

call Karen McDougall so it seems like a

win for the Trump team on its face it

seems like a bad development what's your

reaction to this and is this good or bad

news yeah it's actually not a win for

the Trump team it actually signals that

the prosecutors are feeling even more

confident about their case after the

testimony of Stormy Daniels concluded so

let's unravel that you know I can't tell

you how many times during a case I was

Prosecuting Brian that I had very

lengthy witness list but as my Witnesses

began to testify one after another and I

saw that they were performing well and I

saw that the defense attorneys weren't

really able to make any inroads on

cross-examination didn't damage their

credibility you know what I started

doing I started jettisoning Witnesses

deciding I don't need to call as many

witnesses as I originally anticipated

calling so I can almost promise you that

when the prosecutors made the Tactical

decision that you know what we no longer

need the testimony of Karen McDougall

it's a sign that they believe the

quality and quantity of their evidence

is strong so this may on the surface uh

or superficially seem like a win for

team Trump I think it actually is a sign

that the prosecutors are feeling really

comfortable and confident in their case

uh this was also the Trump team's second

attempt in just so many days at uh

declaring a mistrial why do they keep

trying this move like what what do they

have to gain and and could these

desperate attempts actually hurt them

yeah so I think they're they're trying

to accomplish a couple of things one

they're still playing to the court of

public opinion every time there is a

mistrial motion made what happens

everybody starts talking about it

mainstream media picks it up and the

signal goes out

that you know something must be going

sideways in the prosecution's case

because the defense keeps moving for a

mistrial well the reality is nothing is

going sideways and you can tell that

nothing's going sideways because judge

mhan is summarily rejecting denying

mistrial motion after mistrial motion

the other reason they're making their

motions is if the defense perceives that

there is some new error that has been

made for example by judge Maran and

letting in a particular piece of

evidence well then they want to object

to it and when the objection is

overruled they want to move for a

mistrial just to preserve their ability

to argue on appeal when the mistrial is

denied you know what that was a legal

error and judge Maran should have

granted the mistrial motion so often

defense attorneys will object and will

make any number of motions for Relief

like a mistrial motion simply simply to

preserve the issue on appeal so they can

argue it in the event their client is

convicted and appeals his conviction so

you know none of this I I think is of

much consequence it is kind of part of

the trial dance that goes on in most

criminal cases mistrial motions are made

mistrial motions are denied and then the

case continues to its conclusion Glen we

heard earlier where uh Donald Trump's

attorney was risking losing credibility

with the court does doing something like

this these baseless efforts at declaring

a mistrial does that also contribute to

him losing credibility with the court or

Trump's team more broadly losing

credibility with the court potentially

if the judge believes that they are

absolutely frivolous motions and if they

become so repetitive that it's obvious

that they're not doing it for any legal

purpose but really just to you know

either maybe get it out into the court

of public opinion

that will turn a judge against the

defense attorney now judges have to

endure quite a bit Brian and they really

are not supposed to take it out on

Council even when council is sort of

performing in a less than ideal way um

but yes you can irritate a judge and the

judge already upfront told Todd blanch I

think Donald Trump's lead defense

attorney in this case you are losing all

credibility with the court that really

is like a dagger through the heart of a

criminal litigator I don't know if Todd

blanch was ever able to recover from

that but I don't think uh blanch

continuing to make frivolous mistrial

motions will help dig him out of that

credibility deficit in which he finds

himself now Trump's attorneys also made

a remark to Stormy Daniels while she was

on the stand and they were alleging that

she again was just making everything up

and that she and Trump never even had an

affair uh here's Katie Fang's tweet

Trump attorney said you changed your

story many times because you never had

an affair with President Trump stormy's

attorney objected and the objection was

sustained Glenn how in the world is

denying the most obvious part of this

case that they had an affair a smart

strategy for the Trump team because if

Trump's team is telling the truth then

that would mean Stormy Daniels is just

perjuring herself which is a felony

every single day it's not a a smart

legal strategy for the Trump team what

it is is the defense attorney catering

to an overbearing

unrealistic

micromanaging client I am quite sure we

don't know this for a fact but I would

draw the reasonable inference that Trump

told his lawyers you go hard after

stormmy Daniels berate her belittle her

call her names if you want the way I do

I call her horse face I mean that's not

going to endear Donald Trump to the jury

you know mocking woman like that um but

we've seen some New York Times reporting

about what's going on behind the scenes

Donald Trump is venting that his defense

attorneys aren't going hard enough after

Witnesses they're not being aggressive

Enough by extension they're not being

nasty enough these are not legal

strategies that the defense attorneys

are um are deploying these are the kind

of things that um a micromanaging client

who knows nothing about the tactics of a

criminal trial is telling his attorneys

to do you know I was reading some of the

accounts of the cross-examination of

stormmy Daniels and I think it's Susan

necklace is asking her things like you

know you're really good about making up

fake stories about sex on film aren't

you and she said oh I assure you the sex

was real just like what your client did

to me in that hotel room was real I mean

that kind of a comeback in a measured

tone can can really uh sting in the eyes

of the jury there was another great

exchange where the defense attorney said

to stormmy Daniels well this is not the

first time a man made a pass at you is

it she said you know what this is the

first time a man twice my age much

bigger than me with a security guard

standing outside the door made a pass at

me you know again answers like that oh

that's going to leave a mark also it it

does raise the question if if they're

contending that she's lying there is a

way for Donald Trump to put his own neck

on the line and that's just to take the

stand and testify what he's saying which

is that he never had an affair with

Stormy Daniels and yet it doesn't seem

like he's going to do that so I'm sure

the jury can infer something from that

correct no they can infer nothing from a

defendant who chooses not to testify

they cannot hold that against a

defendant in any way because every

defendant has a Fifth Amendment right

not to testify not to incriminate

himself um but they will be drawing

conclusions if um the testimony of

stormmy Daniels is largely unrebutted

right under oath she said over the

course of seven hours you bet I had this

encounter with Donald Trump um and there

were some phone records backing up the

fact that um she had Trump's phone

number and Trump's assistant had her

phone number um but they're going

they're going to be drawing conclusions

about Stormy Daniels credibility and

about what actually happened but the one

thing they can't do is say well we

didn't hear from Donald Trump during the

course of the trial so we're going to

hold that against him because you know

listen I defend everybody's right

against self-incrimination and not

having their decision to decline to

testify held against them but that

doesn't change the fact that

atmospherically when you have somebody

who's saying something happened and then

just a complete vacuum on the other side

that it doesn't help Trump's testimony

does it no it doesn't and you know here

are a couple of other things to to

consider there's a saying in the law

it's actually a Latin phrase race ipsa

loiter translation the thing speaks for

itself what is the thing Donald Trump

paid Stormy Daniels

$130,000 to shut her up so she wouldn't

tell the story about what happened in

that hotel room you can bet the jurors

aren't foolish enough to believe Donald

Trump paid her

$130,000 because she was going to make

up an encounter with Donald Trump that

doesn't make any sense um here's here's

another thing this may sound too cute by

half but if you really want to call a

witness to rebut what stormy Daniel said

how about you put Melania on the stand

here's why I say that recall that stormy

Daniel said during the encounter in the

hotel room with Donald Trump the subject

of Donald Trump's wife came up

and what did Donald Trump tell Stormy

Daniels according to her testimony he

said don't worry about her we sleep in

separate bedrooms oh well if Stormy

Daniels is making that up then Donald

Trump could call to the stand Melania

and she could testify no we slept in the

same bedroom so obviously Stormy Daniels

is making that up the I think Donald

Trump is going to call Melania to try to

rebut or undercut the credibility of

Stormy Daniels I think so probably not

probably not now the the Trump team also

tried to amend the gag order now that

stormmy Daniels testimony had concluded

and that was to let him be able to speak

freely about her which is Trump speak

for attack her uh this was uh sarily

rejected by the judge he he ordered that

he wouldn't modify the gag order and he

cited how Witnesses who've not yet

testified would see how Witnesses who

had testified would be treated

afterwards uh his his uh judge michan's

quote was your client's track record

speaks for itself can I have your

response to that yeah can you imagine if

judge Maran said you know what I'm going

to prohibit Donald Trump from attacking

Witnesses until they complete their

testimony and then Donald Trump can

retaliate for the fact that they

testified against him it sort of defeats

the purpose of a gag order right isn't

the whole point so that preventing him

from being able to attack Witnesses

wouldn't uh wouldn't allow him to impune

the Integrity of the trial or or uh or

or put in Jeopardy the Integrity of this

trial by preventing these people from

coming forward to testify isn't allowing

him to just retaliate against these

Witnesses after the fact the exact same

thing as allowing him to attack them

beforehand doesn't it still prevent

these people from wanting to come

forward knowing that whether it's before

or after they would still be attacked

yeah to preserve the due administration

of justice to keep this kind of stuff

from leak into the jury box and

infecting the jury's deliberations you

know the judge is making the exact right

call no Donald you can't attack

Witnesses before during or after their

testimony and I think you know a sure

sign that this was an easy call for

judge Maran when the defense said well

Stormy Daniels is done testifying so we

want the gag order modified so Donald

Trump can now attack her for what she

said I mean I I don't think it took much

time at least based on what I can glean

from the reporting between the time the

defense made that motion or renewed the

motion to modify the gag order and the

time that judge Maran shot it down no it

was just a just a few minutes so it

didn't didn't seem like judge mshan had

to dig real deep for this one uh finally

let's finish off with this now that uh

we've had a few Witnesses uh complete

their testimony where are we at in terms

of this trial and how long do you expect

that the remainder of the witness uh the

witness testimonies and the cross-

examinations are going to take yes so

it's interesting just a couple of days

ago the prosecution team said they're

intending to wrap up their presentation

of the evidence what we call the

government's case in Chief within two

weeks now given the McDougall

development it very may very well be

that they're going to be done early next

week so it does feel like things are

accelerating but let me tell you Brian

that's par for the course in so many

criminal trials as prosecutors continue

to assess how much evidence they've

presed presented to the jury you know uh

over the course of the first several

witnesses who have testified how

persuasive it was how little damage the

defense did undermining The credibility

of those Witnesses and then as I say we

often begin jettisoning witness after

witness you know there's a saying when

you investigate the case in the grand

jury you investigate broadly but when

you get to trial you prove your case

narrowly and it sounds like the

prosecution's case is narrowing at this

point all right well we will stay on top

of this case as it continues to progress

and hopefully that's sooner rather than

later that we see a a final resolution

to this thing so that we can see a

criminal conviction uh on the horizon

here so for those watching right now if

you want to follow along please make

sure to subscribe again Glenn and I will

be doing daily comprehensive coverage of

this trial from beginning to end so

please subscribe to both of our channels

the links are right here on this screen

I'm Brian tyer Cohen and I'm Glenn

kersner you're watching the legal

breakdown

[Music]