MSNBC legal expert Lisa Rubin echoed observations that Donald Trump seemed on his best behavior in court on Friday. She thinks she knows why.
The panel of legal analysts finished listening to the recording of the Trump sentencing hearing for the 34 guilty felony counts. It noted that it was the first time the general public heard Judge Juan Merchan's voice.
As he was during the trial, Rubin said, Merchan was calm and measured, never nasty, always wishing criminal defendants Trump well, including at the very end here where he said, 'Sir, I wish you godspeed as you assume your second term of office.'"
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What she found "most remarkable" was that Trump and his lawyer, Todd Blanche, were polite.
"They were forceful in their response to the imposition of the sentence to the very existence of this case," Rubin continued. "And while they attacked Alvin Bragg, not by name, another participant in the prosecution team who came from the Department of Justice, you heard Trump sort of pointing at him, this man here, right? The one person they didn't attack is Juan Merchan."
Rubin believes this is "because they understand now that Chief Justice Roberts is watching. Judge Merchan quoted Chief Justice Roberts back to them in his opinion last week, saying, look, the Chief and I are in agreement. The kind of rhetoric that you and your lawyers used throughout this trial is a danger to the rule of law being upheld in this country. It is a danger to our democracy."
Merchan also noted that Trump's constant appeals are his right, but he had no legal leg to stand on, Rubin analyzed. The more legal legs disappeared, the more Trump and his lawyer's rhetoric got "sharper and sharper in a way that I find objectionable."
"I thought that Trump, particularly given the Supreme Court's ruling last night, 5-4 with Roberts with the majority, is a little bit chastened by that," she said.
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