Serving Temperature

John Yoo says:

"Attacking the judge for being rogue, saying the main prosecutor, the attorney general, is racist," Yoo told Fox News. "Now there's no way that this judge is going to find at all in the favor of President Trump." 

"And I think on appeal he's going to lose because this is not the kind of case appeal judges are going to want to get involved in and reverse factual findings by the trial judge," he added. "So I think what you're seeing here is actually throwing in the towel on the law and using it instead as a platform to amplify his political message."

 I think he may be right:

It began with Habba complaining that there wasn't a jury. The judge informed her that she didn't check the proper box or file the proper form to elect to have a jury trial. Next, she lambasted the judge for incorrectly declaring the value of Mar-a-Lago at $18 million. He stepped in to correct her that he never said that.

As I’ve said, that complaint doesn’t even border on a legal argument.

"He said, hang on. I never said that. And he didn't say it. His ruling that came down last week said that there have been valuations for property appraisal that put it at that" price, she said. "It doesn't mean it's worth that. And I just found that that really struck me because that's what Donald Trump and some of his lieutenants do. They say a lie and they repeat it over and over and over. And Eric Trump, the other night, was out tweeting about that valuation saying the same thing. And so the judge — there was a very heated back and forth and vocal back and forth between the two of them at the end of her remarks. And her audience was an audience of one. It was Donald Trump."

The valuation of MAL is Trump’s obsession. Maybe because he fears exposure of his true financial condition. Maybe because he’s trying to cope with the catastrophic loss handed to him last week. Either way, there is no strategic reason to bring this up and yell about it.

"And she was saying that Letitia James, she had run simply 'to get Trump' and this was just all about this vendetta that Letitia James has. And then she started in on repeating some of the claims that they've already gotten into trouble for."

No reason for that, either. Except Trump wanted them to argue because, you know, it’s all over but the shoutin’.

“He was crossing his arms and shaking his head, at times even physically prodding Chris Kise to get up and argue with the judge or with the attorney general because this is that important to Donald Trump."

I think he knows his goose is well and truly cooked. And there’s not a damned thing he can do about it.

Trump: I was going to come out and say that, as you know, we're not entitled to a jury, which is unusual in the United States of America.

Does he understand that’s because of his lawyer? Does it matter?