The judge's cutting comment to Trump's lawyer the jury didn't hear: How Todd Blanche was slapped down for asking Michael Cohen why he called him a 'crying little s***'

The long-anticipated cross-examination of Michael Cohen began with fireworks and an immediate slap by the judge at Donald Trump's lawyer.

It began when lawyer Todd Blanche, a former prosecutor for the Southern District of New York who left an established firm when he took on Trump as a client, hit Cohen with some of the fixer's own words right out of the gate during questioning Tuesday.

'Mr. Cohen, my name is Todd Blanche,' he introduced himself.

'‘You know who I am, don’t you?’ he asked the witness.

'You went on TikTok and called me a crying little s***, didn’t you?’ he asked.

‘Sounds like something I would say,’ was Cohen's initial answer. 

'Why are you making this about yourself?' Donald Trump lawyer Todd Blanche got admonished by the judge with his opening questions to Michael Cohen about the witness' attacks on him

Then Blanche asked another question about Trump's legal team.

'Do you remember on April 20th, which is again after this trial started, you commented about myself and [Trump attorney] Ms. Necheles about this case; correct?'

The efforts drew an immediate response from Judge Juan Merchan, who has kept an even keel throughout the trial. 

But Merchan didn't like the way things were going, and asked Blanche a pointed question out of earshot from the jurors who will decide Trump's fate.

'Why are you making this about yourself?' Merchan wanted to know, prompting Blanche to argue that he wanted to show Cohen is a biased witness.

'I have a right to show this witness's bias, and he has expressed bias about the lawyers just because of who he represents,' Blanche argued.

'It doesn’t matter if he has bias towards you. It doesn’t matter,” Merchan told him. 'The issue is whether he has bias towards the defendant.'

Then, underlining his concern, he told the lawyer: 

Cohen got asked about series of profane insults Tuesday

The prosecution is wrapping up its case against Trump

'Just don't make it about yourself. I am going to sustain the objection and instruct the jury. Please, don't make it about yourself.'

It was just the latest admonition from the judge, on a day when Blanche tried repeatedly to paint Cohen as a liar and former Donald Trump fanboy who couldn't be trusted. 

Last month, when Blanche was trying to argue Trump's statements about the case didn't violate a court gag order, Judge Merchan schooled him, 'You're losing all credibility.'

And it turned out that Blanche didn't deep to find other past Cohen quotes that might demonstrate animus to his client, without bringing himself into it. He had bragged on TikTok about seeing 'that Trump 'goes right into that little cage which is where he belongs, in a f***ing cage, like an animal.'

He didn't deny saying 'I truly f***ing hope that this man ends up in prison. Nor did he dispute saying people won't be satisfied until 'this man is sitting in his cell.'  

One former federal prosecutor, Renato Mariotti, called Blanche's initial attack an error.

'There is a difference between intelligence and wisdom. That exchange represented a significant lapse of judgment by Todd Blanche,' he wrote.