Donald Trump May Have Prejudiced the Jury Against Himself: Attorney

Donald Trump may have "prejudiced the jury against himself" during Stormy Daniels' testimony at the former president's New York hush money trial on Tuesday, according to a legal expert.

The claim was made by Joyce Vance, a lawyer and former district attorney for the northern district of Alabama, on her Substack blog. It came after the court transcript revealed presiding judge Juan Merchan spoke to Trump's legal team in response to the Republican firebrand "cursing audibly" during Daniels' testimony.

Trump is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records related to allegations he orchestrated the payment of $130,000 to former pornographic actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence over an alleged affair. The former president, and 2024 presumptive presidential nominee, has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies Daniels' claims that they had a sexual relationship in 2006.

On Tuesday, Daniels went into considerable detail about what she claims took place with Trump in 2006, leading the former president's legal team to call for a retrial as the testimony was "so unduly prejudicial to Trump."

Presiding judge Juan Merchan denied the mistrial motion, though he admitted "there were things that would have been better left unsaid."

According to the court transcript, Judge Merchan spoke to Trump's attorney after claiming the former president was "cursing audibly" during Daniels' testimony.

He reportedly said: "I understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that's contemptuous."

Trump's attorney replied he would speak to the former president about his behavior.

Referring to Trump, Merchan added: "I am speaking to you here at the bench because I don't want to embarrass him. You need to speak to him. I won't tolerate that."

In her Substack post, Vance argued Trump's behavior is unlikely to have gone down well with the jury.

She wrote: "Judge Merchan also commented that Trump was going on in full view of the jury. There is no doubt they took note.

"While Trump's lawyers claimed Stormy Daniels' testimony went too far and asked for a mistrial, which the Judge denied, if anything prejudiced the jury against him yesterday, it was Trump's own behavior."

Newsweek has contacted Donald Trump's attorney and representatives of his 2024 presidential election campaign for comment by email.

Speaking to Newsweek, David Ring, a senior Los Angeles-based litigation lawyer, said the level of detail in Daniels' testimony put Trump's legal team "in a tough spot."

He said: "Trump's lawyers tried to block much of Stormy Daniels' testimony about the sexual encounter by raising that issue with the judge before she took the witness stand. The judge overruled Trump on that issue.

"Then, once Daniels took the stand, she really laid out a lot of graphic details about the encounter. This put the defense in a tough spot; if they repeatedly object, the jurors will think, 'What is Trump trying to hide by all the objections?

"So, the lawyers sat on their hands, and let her testify. It was a strategic decision."

Update 05/10/2024, 03:00 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with a new headline.