William Brangham:

Yes, the former president had been barred by the judge from making a closing argument, but he managed to do so anyway.

His lawyer basically opened the door, and the former president just barged right through it and said, as you were just describing, that he's completely innocent, that these charges are trumped-up, that they are bogus, that this is a political witch-hunt against him.

He also said that it was — that this was an attorney general who's simply trying to stop him from advancing politically. And the thing that was so striking about this is that we think of courtrooms, no matter how adversarial they get, that there's a deference and a respect for the judge.

And here was the former president directly attacking the judge to his face, saying that he had an agenda of his own, that he couldn't listen to anything for longer than a minute. And, remember, this is the judge, not a jury, who will decide the president's fate in this case, just an incredibly striking moment to see today.

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