I find this, from this morning’s proceedings in Trump’s “hush money” trial, inexplicable:
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass looked for a backdoor way of introducing Donald Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” interview into the hush money trial Monday morning, where he recited, word for word, Trump’s “grab ’em by the p—y” speech.
Justice Juan M. Merchan had previously ruled that the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office could not play Trump’s interview to a jury because it could be prejudicial.
He doubled down on playing the tape — but said prosecutors could introduce the exact words that Trump said, meaning so long as jurors don’t hear the recording itself, it’s fair game.
Steinglass argued that the video was an “admission of sexual assault” and “living proof that the defendant wasn’t all talk.”
The tape is not actually an admission of sexual assault–it is the opposite, in fact–but put that aside. Trump is charged with the misdemeanor (bootstrapped into a felony by the prosecutor) of filing business records that were incorrect. What on God’s green Earth does the Access Hollywood tape have to do with Trump’s accounting records? Nothing. I can see no basis for this ruling other than an outrageous effort at election interference by the trial judge, Juan Merchan.
It does not bode well for the coming weeks–during which, by the way, Trump will be required to be present at the trial and will not be able to campaign. More election interference.
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