Trump lawyer Blanche under the gun to recover from 'rookie mistakes' before it's too late
May 18, 2024
During an appearance on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show," former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade and Lawfare correspondent Anna Bower stated Donald Trump's lead lawyer Todd Blanche has a lot of work to do in the few days remaining in the Manhattan hush money trial.
Speaking with the host, McQuade claimed attorney Blanche's grilling of former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was riddled with "rookie mistakes" with Bower noting the ex-president's lawyer managed to bore some of the jurors with his aggressive yet scattershot questioning.
"It seems that Todd Blanche was partaking in what I call rookie mistakes," McQuade began before elaborating, "That is, going on too long, not having a specific plan, and asking one question too many."
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"You know, as you suggested, the strategy of an effective cross-examination is to pick out a few key areas of impeachment, contradiction, or getting the witness to agree with helpful points and be laser-focused on those things so that the jury can follow along," she told the MSNBC host. "It may be that one of the things Todd Blanche is trying to do is exhaust Michael Cohen because that can be a strategy; wear them down so they lose their guard and admit the things they may not otherwise admit to."
"I don't think Michael Cohen will get on the stand and confess, 'You're right, Todd Blanche, I made it all up,'" she joked.
"Seven-plus hours is a long time for a jury to sit there, even if they are taking notes," host Phang prompted Bower.
"Katie, you're right, they have been very engaged throughout the case. They have looked like they have been watching a tennis match — moving their heads back and forth as they listen to questions," the journalist agreed, "But I did notice Todd Blanche got into that second day of cross-examination where he was going over and over again with the subjects that he has already been over, he had a very disjointed and disorganized cross-examination with no clear themes or chapters to it."
"That was the first time I really started to notice that there were several jurors who look like they were downright bored," she continued before adding, "Some of them maybe even nodding off. I don't know if that is what in fact was happening but it didn't seem like that was the first time they seemed to lose interest."
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