Donald Trump ’s Manhattan criminal hush money trial was briefly thrown into chaos on Monday when Judge Juan Juan Merchan ordered the courtroom cleared in order to dress down a combative witness. Robert Costello, a lawyer and former adviser to Michael Cohen, testified on behalf of Trump’s defense in a tense interrogation and cross-examination by the former president’s attorneys and state prosecutors. Throughout his testimony, Costello was visibly annoyed by the prosecution’s objections to lines of questioning leveled by Trump’s attorneys.
At one point, Costello was heard saying “jeez” in response to Judge Merchan’s sustaining of one such objection. “I’m sorry?” Merchan asked Costello, who turned red in the face and mumbled “ridiculous” before his testimony resumed. The tension in the court exploded after Costello seemingly rolled his eyes at one of Merchan’s rulings.
The judge admonished Costello, ordering the jury out of the room to “discuss proper decorum in the courtroom” with Costello. “If you don’t like my ruling you don’t say ‘jeez,’ you don’t say ‘strike it’ because I’m the only one who can strike testimony in court,” Merchan said. “You don’t give me side eye and you don’t roll your eyes,” he added, before raising his voice and asking Costello if he was “staring me down right now.
” The exchange prompted Merchan to have the courtroom cleared entirely of the press and other observers. Court staff moved to rem.
