Prosecutor Warns Donald Trump's Team Is Missing the 'Mark'

Donald Trump's reported resentment toward his attorney's purported lack of aggression is not helping the former president's case in his hush money trial in New York City, a former prosecutor said.

Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, is back in court Friday as he stands trial for 34 counts of falsifying business records. He is accused of paying adult film actor Stormy Daniels to keep quiet ahead of the 2016 election about an alleged affair. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts and has consistently called it politically motivated by Democrats, including Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

According to four anonymous sources cited by The New York Times on Tuesday, the former president has expressed frustration with one of his attorneys, Todd Blanche, whom Trump has called "insufficiently aggressive" regarding attacking trial witnesses, the jury pool and Judge Juan Merchan.

Trump adviser Jason Miller told Newsweek on Tuesday that the story should be viewed as dubious based on the anonymous sourcing, adding, "I would be highly skeptical of any gossip or hearsay surrounding this case."

Dave Aronberg, the state attorney in Florida's Palm Beach County, said Friday on MSNBC's Morning Joe that Trump's attorneys' willingness to be more aggressive is not serving their client's best interests.

"Trump wants his attorneys to be like Roy Cohn, he wants them to be aggressive," Aronberg said. "These attorneys were aggressive [Thursday], but I think they missed their mark. They were going after [Stormy Daniels' attorney, Keith] Davidson, for being an extortionist, a bad guy.

"Extortion is not a defense to falsification of business records [and] extortion is not a defense to campaign finance violations. In their haste to please their client, I don't think they won points when it comes to defending their client."

Prior to Friday, the prosecution had called seven witnesses:

• David Pecker, former National Enquirer publisher
• Rhona Graff, longtime Trump assistant
• Gary Farro, Michael Cohen's former banker
• Dr. Robert Browning, executive director of C-SPAN archives
• Phillip Thompson, from court reporting company Esquire Deposition Solutions
• Keith Davidson, attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal
• Douglas Daus, who processes digital evidence for the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

Daus retook the stand on Friday morning, followed by Georgia Longstreet, a paralegal for New York County's DA's office; and Hope Hicks, a former White House adviser during Trump's presidency.

Also on Friday, Merchan clarified the extent of his gag order against Trump. The judge previously instituted the limited order to prohibit him from speaking about jurors, witnesses, court staff and their family members.

Merchan begins Friday's proceedings by clarifying that the gag order does not prevent Trump from testifying. The order against the "extrajudicial statements" does not prohibit the former president from taking the stand, Merchan told the defense.

Trump falsely claimed yesterday to the press that he wasn't "allowed" to testify due to the order, adding that his legal team planned to file a lawsuit on its constitutionality—possibly as soon as today.

"I don't think he'll ever serve any time in jail pretrial," Aronberg said on Friday. "I think it is possible he gets sent to timeout; there is a holding area in the courthouse. But he'd have to really attack the jurors—I think that is the bright line.

"It's one thing to attack witnesses. That's bad enough, especially if it is not Michael Cohen. When you attack jurors who are not public figures, who didn't sign up for this, they just signed up to do their civic duty, that's where I think the judge will draw the line. It could lead to perhaps a time out, [but] I don't anticipate him wearing an orange jumpsuit soon."