Called It!

 The only thing that happened in court today:

Suarez went line-by-line through valuations of Trump’s properties found on the company’s financial statements. Engoron instructed Suarez to streamline his queries by asking questions about the companies in bulk, asking the defense lawyer how much longer his cross-examination would last. 

Suarez predicted he would wrap up by the end of the day. 

“Today?” shouted one of the AG’s assistants, incredulously. "There's no jury,” that assistant added. “I don't know who we're performing for." 

Referring to Suarez’s combative questioning of the witness, Engoron snapped: “Mr. Bender is not on trial.” 

Two of Trump’s other attorneys jumped to their feet at that remark. 

Kise, who also represents Trump in his federal classified documents criminal case that’s playing out in Fort Pierce, Fla., responded: “I would disagree with that.” He noted that the New York attorney general accused his client of a “staggering fraud,” and they needed to create a thorough record, without any shortcuts. Habba echoed his remarks. 

Engoron wasn’t having it, accusing the attorneys of habitually rejecting simple measures to streamline the proceedings. He previously chided Trump’s defense team for repeatedly lodging statute of limitations objections, instead of a continuing objection that he said would have served the purposes of their appeal. 

At one point, Engoron pounded on the bench — and instructed the stenographer to note he was doing that — while indignantly telling Trump’s legal team: “This is ridiculous.” The narrowly muzzled Trump held fire on his criticism of the judge on Wednesday morning, but after he left for the day, the former president told reporters that he was unfair, pushing the press to disseminate his view of the proceedings. 

After he left, James took offense at the former president’s “offensive,” “baseless” and “race-baiting” critiques, declaring: “The Donald Trump show is over.” Trump frequently (and without any evidence) describes the attorney general, who is Black, as a “racist.” 

The afternoon session was comparatively sedate after Trump’s departure, save for the emergency alerts that blared in the courtroom — and across the nation.

(Trust me, a lot more than that happened. Trials are not scripted by Aaron Sorkin. Mostly, they’re boring. Like this example. Yes, defense is entitled to create a complete record. No, that doesn’t mean they can require the witnesses to count every paper clip twice.* The judge is in control of the courtroom, and there is the legitimate issue of judicial economy. My guess is, still, these guys are running up the billables to make Trump pay for being so god-damned annoying. Lawyers do that.)

*(I worked discovery in a case involving a business housed in a metal building (a “Butler” building, or one like it). The business was making styrofoam coffee cups and the like. The process created a lot of steam, and one day the roof collapsed, probably because of all the moisture. The lawyer I was working with (this was in my paralegal days) spent days (not consecutively) deposing the business owner/plaintiff about literally every item in his business, down to the number of paper clips. I’ve never again seen such a comprehensive examination of a plaintiff in discovery. The lawyer was establishing as accurate an accounting of loss as possible. When he was done the case settled for a much lower amount than the plaintiff had been seeking. But there’s no way the lawyer ever would have tried that stunt in court, and no reason why Trump’s lawyers haven’t deposed this witness before trial and could then have put much of this into the record just through the deposition.)