OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former President Donald Trump’s chief spokeswoman, Alina Habba, railed against the direct examination of adult film star Stormy Daniels regarding her alleged sexual encounter with the real estate mogul following highly salacious testimony earlier this week.
Habba, in an interview with Fox News, noted that Daniels gave hours of testimony revealing highly sensitive details about the alleged encounter that most news outlets did not cover due to their highly “salacious” nature. Judge Juan Merchan upheld several defense objections but rejected Todd Blanche’s request for a mistrial on behalf of Trump.
In an appearance on “America’s Newsroom,” Habba, herself an attorney, was critical of the questioning.
“I ask you about yesterday’s testimony,” co-anchor Dana Perino began. “Okay, so I know you can’t talk about Stormy Daniels testimony, but maybe you could comment on this. Judge Merchan talked about the defense, complaining about the testimony. He said, ‘I agree it would have been better if some of these things had been left unsaid,’ but they were already said in front of the jury.”
“Yeah, this is the problem here. And the judge did try and put guardrails with the prosecution and say that these are the guardrails,” Habba began.
“Let’s just go back to basics here. This is about books and records keeping. This is about somebody in Trump Tower who registered a legal fee as a legal fee payment. Okay. That’s it. A payment to Michael Cohen, who was an attorney. To reimburse him– was a legal fee. That’s what this case is about. Where was President Trump? In the White House,” she added. “And they’re trying to now make this a very salacious, you know–. It’s a, it’s a complete extortion situation.
“And they’re using their hand for the Biden administration to, number one, slow him down so that he can’t go on the campaign trail. Number two, get headlines that they think will damage him. And it’s just very clear. And the judge was trying to prevent that. But I can tell you, I just thought the prosecution completely disregarded the guardrails, didn’t care. And that’s why we moved for a mistrial yesterday,” she added.
WATCH:
Alina Habba on Trump's hush money trial after Stormy's 'salacious' testimony: "This is about books and records keeping. This is about somebody in Trump Tower who registered a legal fee as a legal fee payment. Okay. That’s it." pic.twitter.com/d3wZUCkX1M
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Former President Donald Trump appeared to make it clear on Wednesday that Judge Juan Merchan’s Monday threat to jail him for future violations of his restrictive gag order would be met with defiance.
“Give me liberty or give me death,” Trump wrote Wednesday in an all-caps message on Truth Social, quoting the American Founding Father Patrick Henry.
“It is a really bad feeling to have your Constitutional Right to Free Speech, such a big part of life in our Country, so unfairly taken from you, especially when all of the sleazebags, lowlifes, and grifters that you oppose are allowed to say absolutely anything that they want,” Trump’s post added. “It is hard to sit back and listen to lies and false statements be made against you knowing that if you respond, even in the most modest fashion, you are told by a Corrupt and Highly Conflicted Judge that you will be put in prison, maybe for a long period.”
In the Wednesday post, Trump added: “This Fascist mindset is all coming from D.C. It is a sophisticated hit job on Crooked Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME!”
The post also aimed Judges Arthur Engoron and Lewis Kaplan, both from New York, labeling them “equally corrupt, only in different ways.”
“What these thugs are doing is an attack on the Republican Party, and our once great nation itself. Our First Amendment must stand, free and strong,” the former president concluded.