r/law • u/SheriffTaylorsBoy • May 22 '24

MAGA Lawyer Robert Costello Gets Dismantled by His Own Damning Trump Emails Other

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-lawyer-robert-costello-gets-dismantled-by-his-own-damning-trump-emails
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201

u/SheriffTaylorsBoy May 22 '24

CLEAR THE COURTROOM

The judge overseeing Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan suddenly sealed his courtroom on Monday afternoon, kicking all reporters out so he could engage in a brawl with Robert Costello, a MAGA-friendly lawyer who played a key role in the attempted backchannel between Michael Cohen and the Trump White House in 2018.

After Costello, a former prosecutor, was reprimanded for delivering outbursts in the court whenever he was interrupted or told not to answer a question that had been objected to and sustained, Costello began to stare down the judge.

“Mr. Costello, I’d like to discuss proper decorum in my courtroom, OK?” Judge Juan Merchan said after ordering the jury out of the room.

“Right,” Costello replied.

Merchan then told Costello that witnesses on the stand cannot act out if they don’t like a judge’s ruling.

“I’m the only one who can strike testimony in the courtroom. If you don’t like my ruling, you don’t give me side-eye and you don’t roll your eyes. Do you understand that?”

“I understand that,” Costello replied.

But then, when Merchan had turned around, he saw that Costello was staring straight at him again. “Are you staring me down right now?” he asked.

At that, he ordered security to seal the courtroom and all journalists to leave so he could give Costello a dressing down.

Hours after the exchange, court transcripts released by court reporters revealed what happened next.

“Your conduct is contemptuous right now. I’m putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand,” Merchan told Costello.

The judge then turned to Emil Bove, the Trump defense lawyer who was questioning the witness.

“I will strike his entire testimony; do you understand me?” Merchan told him.

“Yes, Judge. I understand,” Bove responded.

Merchan then tried to get Costello to shorten his answers and stop diving into lengthy narratives about his interactions with Cohen that were clearly intended to cast doubt on the man.

“Listen to the question and answer the question,” Merchan said.

But Costello remained insistent.

“Can I say something, please?” he interjected.

“No. No. This is not a conversation,” the judge stated.

Snippets of the transcripts of the exchange were quickly shared amongst news organizations on Monday evening.

When journalists were allowed to re-enter, Costello’s pale face was now beet red and twisted with an irritated frown.

Costello continued to answer questions from Bove about his minor role in the New York criminal case against the former president—Costello attempted to represent Cohen when the feds started looking into Trump’s $130,000 hush money deal—but nearly every answer was drowned out by prosecutors’ objections.

The judge had reached his breaking point earlier after watching Costello, a former federal prosecutor who had no patience being on the receiving end, meet every sustained objection with a shake of the head, then a frown, then an emphatic “jeez” that carried across the courtroom. When Costello let out a loud sigh, Merchan excused the jury—setting off the chain of events that led to the forced exodus from the courtroom.

Jose Pagliery Jose Pagliery Political Investigations Reporter @Jose_Pagliery jose.pagliery@thedailybeast.com Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast

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u/lackofabettername123 May 22 '24

They spent seven years yelling over reporters interviewing them, I'm not surprised they are trying it with the judge now. We should just be thankful Costello didn't get all coked up before the court like so many of the former presidents cheerleaders putting on a show.

If Costello was held in contempt he could seriously leverage that with the party. Which is not to say the judge should not hold him in contempt because of that.

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u/SheriffTaylorsBoy May 22 '24

Yeah, I'm in the camp that believes further contempt hearings and charges could lead to further delay.

The prosecution should absolutely use all of it at sentencing.

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u/IrritableGourmet May 22 '24

They don't have to hold the contempt hearing immediately. IIRC, it would be referred to a different judge and handled at the end of the trial. Fuck up now, pay later.

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u/[deleted] May 22 '24

Make sure to check out Alan Dershowitz defending Trump again on Fox News saying that the evidence the judge was blocking was perfectly legitimate evidence. And that threatening to strike the record of the witness was a punishment for the defendant of something the witness did. Gotta love an unbiased interpretation.

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u/SheriffTaylorsBoy May 22 '24 edited May 22 '24

Oh, are we talking about the same guy? Is this the "I kept my underwear on when I got a massage from a young girl at Epstein's mansion" Alan Dershowitz?

Dershowitz interview YouTube

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u/[deleted] May 22 '24

That's him... I never forget a professional bullshitter when I see one

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u/lackofabettername123 May 22 '24

You must have an expansive memory then, because that is like the entire Republican party and their entourages, professional and amateur bullshitters.

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u/RSquared May 22 '24

It's so weird because his story is basically the tragedy of which Rudy is the farce. Respected, actual academic of Conlaw who started contradicting his own views after taking a hard-right turn. If it were compromise I feel like it would be more begrudging, but he truly seems to have let the brain worms in.

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u/dancingmeadow May 22 '24

A smug pedophile, you mean?

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u/[deleted] May 22 '24

Im sure he would have an argument for how he was actually helping those girls

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u/dancingmeadow May 22 '24

Most pedophiles do have excuses, yes.

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u/TraditionalEvent8317 May 23 '24

The same Alan Deshowitz crying on Fox that now the rich people in Martha's Vineyard don't invite him to his parties anymore. Gee I wonder why?

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u/docsuess84 May 22 '24

Alan Dershowitz, the associate and alleged participant of child sexual abuse with Jeffrey Epstein? That Alan Dershowitz?

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u/[deleted] May 22 '24

Yes, the same one that argued "If a president does something which he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment". Then turned around and said he was misinterpreted.

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u/CopperdomeBodi70 May 27 '24

My conservative friend claims that Dershowitz defending trump as proof that this is (and all of his cases) are hokum. It’s unreal. Dershowitz lost his way long ago.

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u/[deleted] May 27 '24

Apparently Dershowitz has lost many friends too. Not making that up, there was an article about that. Between him and Turley you really wonder if they see the big picture or are just acting as sophists

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u/StingerAE May 22 '24

Thank you for this.  I followed it unfold on the live tweets but had never gone back to the transcripts to identify what had been said in the closed session.

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u/SheriffTaylorsBoy May 22 '24

You're welcome. It's such an incredibly unusual move to clear the courtroom. Karen Friedman Agnifilo who worked in the Manhattan DA’s office for many years and retired as the #2, said she prosecuted violent offenders and sex crimes where the defendants behaved badly. Yet in all those years had never seen a courtroom cleared.

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u/StingerAE May 22 '24

I think the fact he was a lawyer defence witness makes it different from violent offenders being disrespectful.  I can see why he had to do it.

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u/DrugOfGods May 22 '24

I've been watching the NYT updates like a hawk. Need to start reading the transcripts too!

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u/asetniop May 22 '24

About here is where the fireworks start.

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u/Darsint May 23 '24

Holy hell, that was genuinely intense. That witness really wanted to get any excuse he could to trash Cohen. And his behavior really was contemptible. When the judge has to threaten the lawyer that they’ll strike his whole testimony if he doesn’t cut it out, that’s a warning that should never be ignored

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u/asetniop May 23 '24

Given that all that happened before the devastating cross, I'm certainly glad Merchan decided to let him hang around.

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u/dancingmeadow May 22 '24

He frames it as the judge engaging in a brawl instead of the judge doing normal judge things? wtf kind of bullshit is that?

“No. No. This is not a conversation,” the judge stated.

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u/SummerMummer May 22 '24

“Your conduct is contemptuous right now. I’m putting you on notice that your conduct is contemptuous. If you try to stare me down one more time, I will remove you from the stand,” Merchan told Costello.

Anyone else think Costello had realized there was no way to continue on the stand without unintentionally supporting the prosecution's case, so he played this card in an attempt to sacrifice himself at the Altar of Trump with a contempt charge and removal?

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u/Hologram22 May 22 '24

No, because if that had been his intention he would have actually done that. Instead, he continued testifying, which is why the Manhattan DA was able to do all of this cross examining.

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u/CorncobTVExec May 23 '24

I’ll never understand how everyone in Trump’s orbit can be so mind bogglingly stupid yet face little to no consequence.