Donald Trump spoke to reporters on his way out of the courtroom on Thursday, fuming over Judge Juan Merchan's decision to deny a second motion for mistrial in the ongoing Stormy Daniels hush-money trial, bemoaning that it's keeping him from campaigning.
"Everybody saw what happened today — I don't think we have to do any expert explaining," Trump said in a quote obtained from ABC News. "I'm not allowed to anyway because this judge is corrupt . . . I got to get back on the campaign trail. I'm not supposed to be here. We are so innocent."
Prior to breaking for the day, Merchan slammed defense attorney Susan Necheles for not objecting to a line of inquiry regarding whether or not Trump used a condom during the alleged sexual encounter with Daniels, which, by not doing so, added credibility to testimony of the encounter happening in the first place.
"These details add a sense of credibility if the jury chooses to believe them," Merchan said. "Your motion for a mistrial is denied."
Speaking to Trump's attorney, Todd Blanche, Merchan said more of the same:
“Following your motion for a mistrial on Tuesday, I went back to chambers, I pulled out my decisions on both motions for limine, the omnibus decision, and the transcript from Tuesday. I went back to make sure that there were guidelines and no inconsistencies and after having done so, I came away satisfied, let me back up – Going back to opening statements, Mr. Blanche in your opening statement, you denied there was ever a sexual encounter between your defendant and Stormy Daniels. Your denial puts the jury in a position of having to choose who they believe: Donald Trump, who denies that there was an encounter, or Stormy Daniels, who claims that there was. The more specificity Daniels provides the better than can weigh her credibility.
In addition to denying attempts at a mistrial, Merchan also shot down a request to modify a court-imposed gag order to allow Donald Trump to respond to testimony from Daniels, saying, "The nature, the vitriol … your client’s track record speaks for itself here. I can’t take your word for it that he says I’m just going to speak the facts."
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