Michael Cohen's Mocking Tweets About Donald Trump Draw Laughs in Courtroom

Donald Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, had a bit of an unexpected moment during a gag order hearing in New York on Thursday. Instead of defending his client, he ended up reading a series of tweets that mocked Trump, drawing laughter from the courtroom. Blanche aimed to argue that Trump should be able to defend himself against such attacks, even if they're from witnesses in his hush-money case. However, the attempt didn't quite go as planned.

Trump's own attorney ended up reading aloud Michael Cohen's mocking tweets about the former president - right in front of Trump himself. It made for an awkward, laughable scene in the Manhattan courtroom. Blanche, Trump's lawyer, was trying to argue that Trump should be allowed to respond to such ridicule from witnesses like Cohen. To make his point, Blanche quoted verbatim some of Cohen's insulting tweets and retweets targeting Trump. This included Cohen referring to Trump as "Von ShitzInPantz" multiple times on Twitter, as per Huff Post. 

Blanche also showed the courtroom an edited image Cohen had retweeted depicting Trump as a garish, overweight superhero called "Super Victim." As Blanche displayed these social media posts on screens, laughter rippled through the courtroom. The mocking posts undercut Blanche's argument that Trump should get a pass on violating the court's gag order. He claimed, "Everyone can say what they want in this case except President Trump." But Judge Juan Merchan shut that down, noting sternly that Cohen and others "are not defendants in this case." The hearing examined whether Trump should be held in contempt again for recent comments seen as violating the gag order.

Just days earlier, Merchan had fined Trump $9,000 for prior violations. Trump is reportedly furious at his legal team's performance, believing Blanche especially should be more aggressive in Trump's defense. The surprising courtroom comedy unfolded during Trump's ongoing criminal trial. He's accused of falsifying business records to conceal hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 election to bury allegations of extramarital affairs. Cohen has emerged as a star prosecution witness after turning on his former boss.

CNN's coverage crew could barely contain their laughter as well when anchor Jake Tapper read Cohen's "Von ShitzInPantz" tweet on air, as per Yahoo! The panelists giggled as Tapper apologized in advance before quoting the vulgar nickname, now "part of the official transcript." In another courtroom moment, the jury heard a recorded conversation from 2016 between Trump and Cohen discussing a payment. Though key details were unclear, the timing matched a $150,000 hush money deal involving former Playboy model Karen McDougal. The trial also featured testimony from Keith Davidson, the lawyer who previously represented Stormy Daniels and McDougal. Davidson described expressing concern on election night 2016 about his role in suppressing the salacious Trump stories, as per CNBC.