Rod Blagojevich's lawyers asked for a mistrial on Wednesday, arguing they are not being allowed to ask meaningful questions during cross-examinations.
They accused the government of tailoring its case to rulings from the previous trial and preventing the defense from countering it with repeated objections.
"It completely obliterates our ability to ask anything meaningful," said defense lawyer Lauren Kaesberg, who said the multiple rulings against them made them "look like buffoons" in front of the jury.
On Monday, the jury sat in amazement as the defense was "objected to" more than 100 times during the first cross-examination of Blagojevich's former aide John Harris.
By the time Harris' testimony finished, defense attorneys were 'objected to' more than 160 times, leading Zagel to make several comments to attorney Aaron Goldstein, who was warned not to include any information that had been excluded from the case.
Judge James Zagel denied the motion for a mistrial.
