The newly released transcript in former President Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial reveals a dramatic moment that stunned legal experts who examined the document Monday night.
A CNN panel that included former federal attorney Elie Honig and Obama Administration "Ethics Czar" Norm Eisen unpacked the "extraordinary moment" when Merchan lectured attorney and Trump defense witness Robert Costello on courtroom decorum.
"The bigger drama happened after the jury was gone," Honig said. "What an embarrassment."
The panel looked specifically at the moment when Costello asked Justice Juan Merchan a question and received a swift and brutal reply.
“Can I say something, please?” Costello demanded.
“No," snapped Merchan. "This is not a conversation."
Said anchor Kaitlan Collins, "the most remarkable part" is that "the jury missed all of this."
Honig argued that while Merchan initially appeared to have countered Trump's legal team, in truth the Manhattan criminal court judge had done them a service.
"The judge did the defense a bit of a favor," Honig said. "He got the jury out of there real quick."
But Honig also wondered what exactly Trump's lawyers thought they had to gain by introducing the problematic witness, brought in purportedly to discredit former fixer and star witness Michael Cohen, in the first place.
"What did the defense even get from the guy," Honig asked. "They're just letting him act like a maniac and it's hurting the defense."
Eisen said he'd seldom seen a witness act out the way Costello had.
"They were rolling their eyes, they were pursing their lips, they were shaking their heads," Eisen said. "The irony [was]...will Michael Cohen keep his cool for an entire week. Bob Costello, a long-respected attorney blew up the entire courtroom."
