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National News
‘You’re not giving me an answer’: Judge loses his patience with Trump lawyer
From inside the courtroom on Tuesday, MSNBC legal analyst Lisa Rubin revealed that Judge Juan Merchan was "losing his patience" with Donald Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche.
In a testy morning hearing into whether Trump has violated a gag order put in place to stop him attacking members of the jury and witnesses, the judge reamed off examples of attacks — with likely witnesses in his targets including Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, among others.
Blanche, meanwhile, tried to explain away Trump's actions.
Rubin explained from the courtroom that the judge asked Blanche to give him an example of Trump's intentions in one of his posts, and he consistently failed to do so, leading Merchan to react.
"Judge Merchan is losing his patience," MSNBC's Vaughn Hillyard said, reading text messages from Rubin. Merchan is "accusing Blanche of not answering his questions. So we're just three social media posts through the ten, and Judge Merchan is clearly frustrated with the attorney for Donald Trump's lack of ability to articulate on behalf of his own client his intention with those social media statements."
ALSO READ: A neuroscientist explains how Trump is using existential fear to win the election
"I am asking a question," Merchan said, according to Rubin. "I keep asking you over and over to give me an example, and I'm not getting an answer."
Merchan went on to say that it was 10:30 a.m., and they'd been debating "for an hour now, and he's looking for an answer."
See the report below or at the link here.
'You’re not giving me an answer': Judge loses his patience with Trump lawyer youtu.be
National News
MAGA lawmaker accuses Mike Johnson of ‘brainwashing’ him with intelligence briefing
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), endorsed by Donald Trump, explained that he was supporting Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-LA) ouster because the lawmaker had betrayed Republicans' principles on a foreign surveillance law.
On Monday, Massie told podcast host Charlie Kirk that Johnson had orchestrated a "brainwashing session" in the form of a classified briefing to push through the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
"It was like a brainwashing session," Massie asserted. "And here's the thing, Charlie, when you go into a [sensitive compartmented information facility (SCIF)], remember most congressmen are used to having two things with them that allow them to verify something if they're being told a lie.
"Number one, they usually have their smartphone with them. And their staff," he continued. "Those two things you are deprived of.
ALSO READ: Revealed: What government officials privately shared about Trump not disclosing finances
"So if you are deprived of those two things and any connection to anybody for three or four hours, you kind of start believing what they're saying, and you think, well, maybe they'll let me out of this SCIF if I just nod my head and succumb to the pressure."
However, the "brainwashing session" did not convince Massie to support the bill.
"I slept on it three nights, and then I came to the GOP conference at the beginning of this past week, and I stood up in front of everybody, and I told Mike Johnson he needed to resign and that I was co-sponsoring Marjorie Taylor Greene's motion to vacate," he recalled.
The House passed the FISA reauthorization bill earlier this month after an initial failure. The 273-147 bipartisan vote came with 59 Republicans and 88 Democrats opposing it. Trump had urged Republicans to kill the legislation.
President Joe Biden signed the bill into law on Saturday.
