'Major mistake' by judge in Trump fraud trial won't be repeated in other courts: expert
A legal expert identified a "major mistake" made by the judge overseeing Donald Trump's fraud trial, and she predicted that won't be repeated by other courts.
The former president had hoped to deliver at least part of his own closing argument at the conclusion of the New York fraud trial, but Judge Arthur Engoron blocked that plan after Trump and his lawyers rejected some limits the judge would have imposed.
That said, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin told "Morning Joe" she expected the issue to come up again.
"You know he always grabs a bank of cameras here [at the courthouse], which is part of what makes this proceeding behind me much more unusual than the federal proceedings, where he hasn't been able to do that," Rubin said. "What I think will happen is that [attorney] Chris Kise will take another swing at allowing Donald Trump to speak. This is clearly a situation in which the client is driving the request. In fact, even the language that Kise uses later in the email chain becomes increasingly Trumpy, down to the capitalization. I think you'll see that request. You'll see a tussle back and forth. Ultimately, Donald Trump will not be allowed to speak, is my prediction."
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The judge had warned that Trump would not be allowed to testify in his closing arguments or turn them into a campaign speech, but Rubin said the ex-president would likely turn the proceeding into a media spectacle anyway.
"Nonetheless, he'll make very good use of the phalanx of cameras right outside that courthouse that the New York judges have permitted to exist. I think that, in retrospect, was a major mistake," Rubin said. "I'll be interested to see when [Manhattan district attorney] Alvin Bragg gets to try his case against the former president in criminal court down the street, perhaps in March, depending on whether judge Tanya Chutkan's case is allowed to go forward, whether those conditions will be allowed to exist down the street. I predict the answer will be no."
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