Donald Trump swept out of his $250 million New York civil fraud trial on Wednesday, a move that apparently left his Secret Service detail scrambling to follow him and those who remained in the courtroom, including his own lawyers, stunned.

Trump’s dramatic exit was made as Michael Cohen, his former personal attorney, was testifying on the stand. Under cross-examination, Cohen denied that Trump had ever asked him to inflate numbers on his personal statement—standing by his 2019 congressional testimony.

Trump and one of his lawyers, Alina Habba, “threw up their arms” at this, according to CNN. Another Trump attorney then asked Judge Arthur Engoron for a directed verdict on the case, given Cohen’s status as a key witness.

  • Admiral Patrick
    link
    fedilink
    English
    331 year ago

    Yeah, I had to read the whole article because the summary was confusing.

    It sounded like he “rage quit” and stormed out when it was really because he thought “case closed, I’m out”.

    • Mossy Feathers (She/They)
      link
      fedilink
      561 year ago

      No, it sounds like he did rage quit in this instance. It sounds like Cohen testified in Trump’s defense, which prompted his lawyers to ask for a directed verdict as they believed Cohen’s testimony was enough to end the trial. The judge denied it because evidence was “all over the place”, which made Trump mad and leave.

      • admiralteal
        link
        fedilink
        251 year ago

        Notably because Cohen’s testimony didn’t even prove what Trump was claiming it proved.