Judge denies motion to mistrial in Donald Trump hush money case after defense attorneys claim Stormy Daniels’ ‘spanking’ testimony and lack of condom claim were ‘prejudicial’

Judge Juan Merchán brutally berated Donald Trump’s defense attorneys in front of the former president when he denied their motion for a mistrial in the hush money case Thursday afternoon.

It was the second mistrial motion filed by the defense this week following porn star Stormy Daniels’ scandalous testimony about her alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

In his motion for a mistrial, attorney Todd Blanche called Stormy Daniels’ testimony “extraordinarily prejudicial” and noted that even the judge had agreed that some of the testimony was “unnecessary.”

“It’s almost unbelievable that we’re here for a records case and the government is asking about an incident that occurred in 2006,” Blanche argued, referring to Daniels’ testimony Tuesday about rolling up a magazine and whipping Trump with it for nearly 20 years. back.

Blanche also said that prosecutors who asked Daniels about the pornography company she worked for required condoms for all of its performers, and for Daniels to testify that Trump did not use a condom during their encounter was “a dog whistle for rape.’

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass rejected the argument that Daniels had changed her story, saying it was well documented. He also argued that the defense had the opportunity to investigate inconsistencies with cross-examination conducted by attorney Susan Necheles.

Steinglass argued that the details of Daniels’ testimony were essential for the jury to analyze his credibility.

Judge Merchan criticized defense attorneys in his decision to deny the mistrial motion.

He said he had reviewed the transcript of the testimony and made sure no one had violated his guidelines for questioning the witness. He said that he was satisfied with the review of it but it didn’t stop there.

Merchan pointed out that Blanche had denied that there had ever been a sexual encounter between Trump and Daniels in her opening statement, and by mentioning it, Blanche had put the jury in the position of having to choose who to believe.

The judge basically put the blame on the defense, saying that the more specific details Daniels could provide about the encounter, the more the jury could weigh whether to credit him.

Merchan agreed that some of the details of Daniels’ testimony did not need to come to light and specifically addressed her claim that Trump did not use a condom, but criticized Trump’s lawyers for not objecting.

“I don’t understand why she wouldn’t object to the mention of a condom,” Merchan said of Necheles.

Before denying the mistrial motion, Merchan also denied the defense’s motion to modify the gag order.

Blanche had argued against the gag order in light of Daniels’ testimony claiming that Trump ““He needs a chance to respond to the American people.” He noted that Daniels was no longer a witness.

But prosecutor Chris Conroy argued that changing the gag order mid-trial would signal to future witnesses that they, too, could “be at risk.”

Merchan dismissed the gag order request that Trump be allowed to speak about Daniels.

“My concern is not just to protect Ms. Daniels,” the judge said. “My concern is to protect the integrity of these proceedings as a whole.”

He pointed out that everyone sees what is happening and would see how the witnesses who have testified ‘are going to be treated.’

‘I can’t take your word that this is not going to be an attack. That’s just not the record,” Merchan told Blanche. She said Trump’s record “speaks for itself.”

Merchan said the reason there was a gag order preventing Trump from speaking about witnesses in the case to begin with was “because of the nature of these attacks, the vitriol.”

He said there were real and very threatening attacks on potential witnesses.

The judge noted that there were others on Trump’s team who were allowed to speak publicly on the former president’s behalf.