M.L. Nestel joined Raw Story in 2023. An award-winning writer and editor, his work has been published in New York Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine and The Guardian, among other titles. He also produces and writes for true-crime genre TV shows. Prior to that, he served on the Newsweek masthead as a senior writer, wrote as a correspondent at ABC News and held the titles of West Coast bureau chief and senior writer at The Daily Beast. Priors also include working as senior national correspondent at The Daily Mail and investigative reporter at all three NYC tabloids: The New York Post,The New York Daily News and Newsday. He traveled around the country as a national correspondent at The Daily. M.L. published hundreds of stories about underground music and cinema — most notably as a critic for Box Office Magazine and the New York editor at Soma Magazine. He also headed development at Fountainhead Films. M.L. splits his time between Los Angeles and New York.
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.
"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.
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."
