Donald Trump is not happy with his lead defense attorney, Todd Blanche, according to The New York Times.
The former president has been frustrated with Blanche since the early days of his criminal hush money trial, four people familiar with the situation said, according to New York Times political reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
He has reportedly complained that Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, has not been aggressive enough. Trump wants his lawyer to attack witnesses, the judge, and what he “sees as a hostile jury pool,” the Times reported.
The sources said the former president, notorious for ducking bills, has also complained about the price of his attorneys’ legal fees.
Jason Miller, senior advisor to the Trump campaign, told the Times that Trump and his team are focused on fighting the “ridiculous” case and that “anonymous comments from people who aren’t in the room are just that.”
Trump is currently in court for the third week of trial on charges of falsifying business records.
Prosecutors say Trump engaged in a “catch and kill” scheme to suppress negative stories about himself ahead of the 2016 election and then fudged records to hide the true nature of payments made as reimbursements to his then-attorney, Michael Cohen. Cohen had paid $130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about an affair she says she had with Trump a decade earlier.
Blanche has apparently sought to placate Trump to some extent, using strategies in court that some analysts have characterized as “terrible” and bizarre.
Legal experts have suggested that Trump is hurting his own defense by forcing his attorney to spout falsehoods and push political rhetoric that does not hold up in court.
Last week, Judge Juan Merchan told Blanche he was “losing all credibility with this court” after he argued that his client was trying hard to comply with a gag order preventing him from attacking people involved with the case.
Merchan ruled Tuesday that Trump had violated the gag order and warned him he could face jail time if he continued to do so. He was fined $9,000 for nine violations and ordered to delete the offending posts on his Truth Social account.
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