Here's the moment when Judge Juan Merchan 'lost confidence' in Trump lawyer: ex-prosecutor

Three days into Donald Trump's hush money criminal trial and one of his attorneys has lost the judge's trust, according to Andrew Weissmann, former senior prosecutor on Robert Mueller's special counsel team.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Weissmann said it was astonishing that prosecutors convinced Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan to box out former President Donald Trump's attorney Todd Blanche's request to get a look of the prosecution's witness list.

"I want to make sure people understand: when you have everyone operating in good faith and people comply with the rules, it is standard procedure to let both sides do that when it is a defense case, the government's case – you give the other side notice," he said.

But this trial already has broken standard procedure with defendant Trump already testing the limits of his imposed gag order and launching regular tirades against the judge and DA.

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"Mr. Trump has been tweeting about the witnesses. We're not telling them who the witnesses are," Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office, said in court.

Merchan appeared to agree, saying he "can't blame them" for not wanting to share the witness list.

But Blanche was startled by the denial and then wondered aloud if they were going to learn who the witnesses will be the moment they enter the courtroom.

He then tried to make a concession by pledging to "commit to the court and the [prosecution] that President Trump will not [post] about any witness" on Truth Social.

Merchan didn't believe him.

"I don't think you can make that representation," he said.

Weissmann said that this moment showed that Blanche's credibility with Merchan has already gone bust.

"The part about counsel I find very interesting, and that is where Todd Blanche has really lost credibility with the court because that is where if the judge sees that there is counsel, and then obviously the judge has lost confidence in Todd Blanche because that is where he could say, 'I will give it to you, but you have to promise me,'" he said. "And that usually would work."

Watch the video below or at this link.