Trump fires off his own online defense as lawyers address jury in court

Former President Donald Trump's lawyers were back in court in Manhattan Tuesday, trying to wrap up his defense in the hush money trial. But Trump appears to have his own ideas about how to defend himself.

As Trump's attorneys were doing their job, the former president took to his Truth Social account and — much as he has done after trial arguments on several days — fired off a series of quotes from various right-wing commentators attacking the trial and supporting his innocence.

Among those he quoted was right-wing National Review editor Andrew McCarthy, who said, “Former FEC commissioner Bradley Smith’s testimony would have established that Trump cannot have willfully violated FECA [The Federal Election Campaign Act]. Because NDAs are not campaign expenditures, Trump did not have a FECA legal duty with respect to them…Ergo, he could not have intentionally flouted a known legal duty.”

Also in his list of quotes was right-leaning law professor Jonathan Turley, who said, “A classic closing pitch by lawyers is to use a physical object like a three-legged stool. If any leg is missing, the stool collapses. Even a cursory review of the evidence shows this case does not have a leg to stand on…The case against Trump should end in ‘NOT GUILTY.’”

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The trial, in which prosecutors allege Trump defrauded voters and violated business law by concealing hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, is set to move to jury deliberations later in the week.

This is not the first time Trump has tried to take matters into his own hands with his defense. Throughout the trial, he has had an adversarial stance against Judge Juan Merchan, which legal experts have said is likely to hurt him with the jury and make his own case seem less credible.