Donald Trump reacted to the closing arguments at his hush money trial in New York with one simple word.
The former president posted “boring” in capital letters on his Truth social network as he listened to the defense and the prosecution summarize their points.
His defense team took more than two hours to deliver their summation, essentially trying to discredit Michael Cohen. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass’ closing arguments lasted for more than three hours, and he paused after 90 minutes to tell the court he was only around one-third of the way through.
Trump also posted the word “filibuster” before he went on to call the trial “rigged,” as he has done many times before.
Trump complained about Judge Juan Merchan not allowing him to use “reliance on counsel” as his defense.
He wrote: “[Referring to Cohen] I didn’t have a fixer, I had a lawyer who, at that time, was fully accredited and accepted within the legal community, but the judge is not allowing me to use the reliance on counsel defense.
“I may be the only person in the country not allowed to do so and, the only one who has a very unconstitutional and restrictive gag order. Not fair – Freedom!”
Trump has come under fire for his social media posts multiple times during the trial.
He was first placed under a gag order at the end of March, prohibiting him from making public statements about witnesses, jurors, prosecutors, court staff and their families – while still being free to defend himself and voice his opinions on the judge and the district attorney.
Prosecutors accused Trump of violating the order multiple times, including when he wrote on Truth Social about the jury pool.
“They are catching undercover Liberal Activists lying to the Judge to get on the Trump Jury,” he said.
At the time, Trump said it would be his “great honor” to go to jail for violating the gag order, writing in April: “If this Partisan Hack wants to put me in the ‘clink’ for speaking the open and obvious TRUTH, I will gladly become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela.”
Late on Tuesday night, after closing arguments had finished, Trump posted: “Can you imagine that I, as a defendant, am not allowed to rebut or correct the many lies told during the five-hour filibuster just put on by the Soros-backed D.A.’s Office in the Manhattan Court. What a disgraceful performance of misrepresentation it was.”
Liberal billionaire and philanthropist George Soros has denied making any direct contributions to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, but he has been linked to criminal justice reform programs that some see as essentially promoting more liberal candidates for district attorney positions.
For example, Soros donated money to Color of Change PAC, an advocacy organization, which then supported Bragg’s campaign, according to the fact-checking website PolitiFact.
Trump, who is set to run for president against Joe Biden again this year, pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records and denies an encounter with Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels.
Jury deliberations will begin on Wednesday, after instructions from Judge Merchan.
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