Fox "news" regulars John Roberts and Andy McCarthy blamed Judge Arthur Engoron for Trump's endless rambling in court in New York. It's all his fault Trump acts like a petulant child that thinks he's above the law because he's already ruled against him over in upside-down land.
As we already discussed here, Trump had a very bad day on the stand this Monday, and the judge threatened to boot him for giving speeches from the witness stand. As NBC New York reported, he lashed out at the judge and the AG during his testimony, and was admonished by the judge for his behavior:
Tensions between Engoron and Trump, already on display in recent weeks, when the judge fined him a total of $15,000 for incendiary outside-of-court comments, were evident Monday when the ex-president was repeatedly scolded about the length and content of his answers.
“Mr. Kise, can you control your client? This is not a political rally. This is a courtroom,” Engoron told Trump lawyer Christopher Kise, who himself has clashed with the judge. Kise responded that Trump was entitled to latitude as a former president and current candidate taking time away from the campaign to be on the witness stand.
“The court needs to hear what he has to say about these statements, why they’re viable and why there was no intent” to deceive anyone, Kise said.
Engoron, who determined in a ruling earlier that Trump committed fraud for years while building the real estate empire that catapulted him to fame, cautioned at one point that he was prepared to draw “negative inferences” against the former president if he failed to rein in his answers.
“I do not want to hear everything this witness has to say. He has a lot to say that has nothing to do with the case or the questions.”
Over on Fox, they treated this as one big joke and did their best to normalize Trump's behavior, and then blame the judge for how he behaved. Here's host Roberts and McCarthy on America's Newsroom making light of the fiasco, with McCarthy calling it a "farce." Yes it is Andy, but not for the reason you stated here.
ROBERTS: So, I've got to say, Andy, I would hazard a guess the Judge Arthur Engoron has never had a witness like Donald Trump in his courtroom before. He admonished the defense counsel to "control the witness," control their client, because, I mean, anybody who has ever had a conversation with Trump knows that he goes on and on and on and on and he says what he wants to say and then you get a word in and then on and on and on and on, and says what he wants to say. And then you get a word in, and he goes on and on and on and says what he wants to say. That's just who he is.
Engoron doesn't like that in his courtroom. At one point he said we are not hear to listen to what he has to say, we are hear to listen to him to answer questions, to which Alina Habba said no, we are here to listen to what he has to say. I mean, it's like, as you point out, the judge is losing control of the courtroom, as is very easy to do when Donald Trump sits down to say anything anywhere.
But the same time, he's kind of violating basic court practices that the client has an opportunity, or the defendant has an opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law, and the judge should be able to sit down long enough to listen to what the defendant has to say.
MCCARTHY: Right. Well, that's what should happen, John, but you know, look, I don't think the New York system anymore is a legal system. It's really a political system that's masquerading as a political system. The judge is an elected Democrat. Tish James is an elected Democrat who ran for office promising to use the power of the office against Trump, and a good judge who wanted to keep control of this proceeding would not have ruled on the ultimate issue on the eve of trial.
Because you would want -- withhold the ruling and then Trump at least has an incentive behave himself, because how he comports himself might affect what the outcome of the case is. But if you tell the guy before the case even starts that he's lost, what incentive does he have to behave himself or to treat it like it's anything other than a farce.
They're talking Trump the same way you'd discuss a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since that's the way Trump behaves, but it's something else to see them pretend it's normal for a grown man to behave this way.
