Trump Witness Slammed by Judge After Giving Him ‘Side Eye’ and Rolling Eyes in Court: “You Staring Me?”

Judge Merchan, who is presiding over Donald Trump ‘s criminal trial in Manhattan for hush money and election interference, cleared the room to censure the former president’s associate and defense witness after he caused chaos in the courtroom with his comments and repeated sneers at the judge . The second witness summoned by Trump’s legal team was Robert Costello, a lawyer who previously also advised Trump’s former attorney and the prosecution’s star witness, Michael Cohen .

Trump, who has entered a not-guilty plea to 34 felony counts of falsifying company records in connection with a hush-money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels , has seen a vocal supporter in Costello as the case against the former president unfolds, the BBC reported. Costello seemed to vent his displeasure on the judge on May 20 while going to the witness stand, but the judge would not allow it in his court, admonishing him severely.

“Jeez,” Costello moaned into the microphone as Justice Juan Merchan interrupted him many times after sustaining the prosecution’s objections. The judge immediately said, “I’m sorry?” in an irritated tone. Things only got worse from there on out, with Costello later seeming to moan at further objections and lengthy sidebars between the attorneys and the court.

Seemingly at his breaking point, Justice Merchan requested the jurors to vacate the room so he and Costello could talk about “proper decorum in my courtroom”. Once the jurors were out of the room, Judge Merchan started criticizing the former federal prosecutor. “You don’t say ‘jeez’. And then if you don’t like my ruling, you don’t give me a side eye, and you don’t roll your eyes,” he told the witness.

When Costello appeared to wince at Justice Merchan during his reprimand, the judge became even more irate. “Are you staring me down?” he snapped at the witness, then asked the bailiffs to escort everyone out of the courtroom, “Clear the courtroom,” Justice Merchan commanded. The judge allegedly privately told Costello his behavior was unbecoming of the courtroom and that he would find him in contempt if he continued this behavior.

Costello, a longtime attorney, is best known for handling Rudy Giuliani’s legal matters during the House January 6 Committee probe, per Forbes . Cohen testified that Costello contacted Cohen in 2018 after the government began looking into the former attorney’s $130,000 payment to Daniels. Cohen offered to represent Giuliani, who was Trump’s attorney at the time, and use Giuliani’s connections to provide a backchannel for communication with the former president. Cohen said in court that he never gave Costello the whole story about the hush money payment, including the claim that Trump knew about the plot.

Costello served as the final witness for the defense after an expert witness unexpectedly withdrew his testimony on May 21. After repeated claims, Trump did not end up testifying in his defense. The case will be tried by a jury the following week, with closing arguments scheduled for May 28.