New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan listens as Emil Bove, a member of former President Donald Trump's legal team, argues for his client during Sandoval's hearing, amid his criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York, Friday, April 19, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. (Jane Rosenberg via AP, Pool)
Donald Trump's hush-money trial in New York City wrapped up its third day with the judge briefly scolding one of the ex-president's lawyers for how he questioned a witness.
After jurors were dismissed, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan and the parties discussed an earlier objection regarding the testimony of David Pecker, 72, the former CEO of the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc.
On Thursday, lawyer Emil Bove, a former member of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, led the defense. Before Bove took over, most of Trump's defense had been headed by lawyer Todd Blanche — who himself received a scolding from Merchan earlier this week during a confrontational gag order hearing.
The state's objection on Thursday involved the defense's allegedly improper questioning of Pecker about the witness' different memories of who attended a 2015 Trump Tower meeting, according to a report by Adam Klasfeld, a Just Security fellow. “Mr. Bove, are you missing my point?” the judge said in frustration. “Because I don’t think you’re responding to what I’m saying.”
As testimony in the case concluded, Bove pressed Pecker about who exactly he remembered being present at the meeting where the “
agreement among friends” over the 2016 election was made.Pecker previously testified that this agreement led to the National Enquirer serving as the Trump presidential campaign's “eyes and ears” regarding damaging stories. Additionally, the tabloid received significant access to the candidate, especially in relation to negative stories about his opponents, and was essentially guaranteed increased sales because the readership supported Trump and wanted him to win.
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Based on Bove's questioning, it seemed that Pecker told federal prosecutors that Hope Hicks, a former White House communications director, was not at the meeting, while telling state prosecutors that she was there,
according to a report by the New York Times. The defense sought to question Pecker about his grand jury testimony, which led to another quick objection and the judge ending the proceedings. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Steinglass explained the state's objection, complaining that Bove's questioning was “improper” and left jurors “with a misimpression” about what Pecker said. The prosecutor clarified that Hicks’ name did not come up at all during Pecker’s August 2018 meeting with federal investigators.
Bove briefly said he wasn't trying to be deceiving — just to demonstrate that Hicks wasn't at the meeting.
“It’s false and we will fix this tomorrow,” Merchan said.
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The judge announced that the court will give a corrective instruction to the jury, also stating that the defense inappropriately challenged the witness regarding a previous contradictory statement by mentioning a document without proper basis,
according to a report
by Law&Crime’s Terri Austin. “I don’t think you’re understanding what I’m saying,” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan told Trump’s lawyer. by Law&Crime’s Terri Austin.