Andrew Weissmann Floats Theory on Why Trump’s Lawyers Aren’t Objecting More: ‘This Is Calculated’
Former federal prosecutor and ex-Mueller probe investigator Andrew Weissmann believes Donald Trump’s lawyers are purposely not objecting to otherwise objectionable testimony as part of a “calculated” gambit.
The former president has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments to cover up extramarital affairs before the 2016 election. On Thursday, Trump’s lawyers cross-examined Stormy Daniels, who testified during direct examination on Tuesday she had sex with Trump in 2006, a year after he married Melania Trump. The former president denies the allegation.
Daniels’ testimony about the encounter was graphic, so much so that Judge Juan Merchan was “noticeably uncomfortable” on Tuesday and sustained multiple objections by defense counsel. On Thursday, Merchan denied the defense’s motion for a mistrial and dinged Trump’s attorneys for not objecting more during Daniels’ testimony “[f]or some unexplained reason that I still don’t understand.”
The judge seemed particularly confused as to why Trump’s attorney Susan Necheles did not object to Daniels’ testimony about Trump not wearing a condom.
“Why on earth she wouldn’t object to the mention of a condom I don’t understand,” he said.
Appearing on Thursday’s installment of The Last Word on MSNBC, Weissmann, who said Merchan was “annoyed,” offered a theory for why Trump’s lawyers did not object more.
“The reason I think he was annoyed is, you know, I can’t say for sure, but every bone in my body tells me this is calculated on the defense part. This is not sort of, ‘Oh, we forgot to object.’ Susan Necheles is really experienced. She doesn’t forget to object. So when you have gamesmanship– I mean, they want this in the case.”
“What’s the calculation?” asked a seemingly incredulous Lawrence O’Donnell.
“Wait until summation,” Weissmann replied. “They’re gonna say in summation, ‘Oh, look what they did with the case. They tried to call Stormy Daniels. They wanted this to be as salacious as possible ’cause they don’t have a case and they wanted to bring in all of this stuff. That’s why you heard about condoms. That’s why you heard about this, that, and the other.'”
Weissmann added that he suspects this “gamesmanship” by Trump’s legal team will not work:
And I’m not saying this is a bad strategy, but they have to do something. You are going to hear in summation this sort of like, “Look at the birdie over here.” So, that is why– the district attorney knows this is what defense lawyers do. They say, “Oh, this shouldn’t have come in. We’re complaining, Judge.”
But come on. You know they’re gonna use it. And Judge Merchan has sat through a million of these cases. He knows it. And so, in a case like this, he’s expecting a slightly better comportment from the lawyers and saying, “You know what? I’m not going to listen to gamesmanship. You should have objected, you didn’t object. And you know what? Good luck on appeal.”
The rule on appeal, by the way, if you don’t object, it is– you can appeal, but the standard is really hard if you make the calculated decision not to object.
Watch above via MSNBC.
