himself. this was not long after the judge had just cut off that court appointed counsel who was cross-examining the government s first witness. that was stormy daniels book agent. after the jury left the room, the judge said he did that because in 43 minutes of questioning, he said that the attorney did not ask one relevant question. so avenatti told the judge that he could represent himself, that he actually did represent himself in a criminal trial this past summer that ended in a mistrial. the judge told avenatti he wanted his eyes wide open. the stakes in the case were very high, but he found avenatti was competent to do so. he would need to abide by the decorum of the courtroom. do you kneavenatti has decided whether or not to take the stand in hiown defense? so he hasn t said yet, but in court filings in december, his attorney said there was a strong likelihood that avenatti would testify in his own defense. of course, that raises a lot of issues here. how would that actual