9:51 a.m. ET, May 21, 2024
Former election commissioner criticizes judge for not letting him testify as defense witness
Smith’s main gripe: that Judge Juan Merchan did not want a separate expert to testify to how the hush money payments may have worked in line with the election dates.
In one post, Smith said that he had planned to testify to the “reporting schedules, showing that even if they thought it was a campaign expenditure to be reported, expenditure made on October 27 (when $$ sent to Daniels atty) would not, under law, be reported until Dec. 8, a full 30 days after election,” he wrote.
Smith also complained that the judge allowed Michael Cohen to discuss whether he violated the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA).
“While judge wouldn’t let me testify on meaning of law, he allowed Michael Cohen to go on at length about whether and how his activity violated FECA. So effectively, the jury got its instructions on FECA from Michael Cohen!” he wrote.
In summarizing his thread, Smith claimed that Merchan’s “bias is very evident.”
This article was originally published by a amp.cnn.com . Read the Original article here. .