There are two Donald Trump criminal trials now taking place.
CNN
There are two Donald Trump criminal trials now taking place.
There’s the one in a Manhattan courtroom, where a judge, attorneys for both sides and prospective jurors are making strenuous efforts to lay the foundation of the fair trial to which the ex-president and every other citizen is entitled.
And there’s the imaginary trial that exists in Trump’s rhetoric, led by “heartless thugs” and a “very conflicted judge” who is “rushing the trial” that the presumptive GOP nominee claims is a “Biden inspired witch-hunt.”
In court on Tuesday, Trump made eye contact with potential jurors and was admonished by Judge Juan Merchan for muttering while one was questioned. But the surprisingly snappy pace of the process confounded initial expectations that putting on trial possibly the most famous man on Earth would be a laborious and prolonged process. While there were occasional moments of levity in the court and reminders that Trump’s status make him a defendant like none other, conversations that members of the jury pool had with the judge and defense lawyers and prosecutors hinted at the gravity of what will unfold in the coming weeks. One potential juror, for instance, noted: “This is real. This man’s life is on the line, the country’s on the line, this is serious.”
As Trump’s hush money trial quickened on its second, compelling day — with seven jurors seated — Trump stepped up efforts to discredit the proceedings and the legal system itself. He bolstered the argument that is both his primary defense and his main campaign message — that he’s a persecuted victim being prosecuted because he’s on course to win back the White House in November. The former president’s strategy encapsulates one of the most consequential challenges to the American courts system in modern memory — one that is likely to leave it tarnished in the eyes of tens of millions of his supporters whatever the jury decides. And it exemplifies the unprecedented circumstances of the first former president going on trial in the middle of an election campaign that is now running more through multiple court rooms than swing states.
But outside the courtroom, the former president raged, offering a skewed commentary on the good faith efforts inside.
When the search for 12 jurors plus alternates paused for the day, Trump motorcaded to a bodega uptown, to highlight what he says is rising crime faced by the owners of small stores that are often open all night and especially serve immigrant communities. Trump was in his element, waving to a crowd that chanted “Four more years” and “We love Trump,” as he belted out quotes that dripped with falsehoods about foreign nations emptying their prisons and asylums to send a tide of migrants to American cities.
In a rowdy event in which he looked more like a mayoral candidate than a presumptive presidential nominee, he made two points. First that Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg should be going after ‘real’ criminals and not him, and that his obligation to attend the trial was keeping him off the campaign trail, as his rival, President Joe Biden, sweeps this week through swing-state Pennsylvania.
“It’s Alvin Bragg’s fault, he goes after people like Trump, who did nothing wrong,” the former president said standing under a sign for an ATM, in a scene the long-time master self-publicist seemed to be offering up for a front page in the New York Post. “It makes me campaign locally and that’s OK,” Trump said, wrapping up his spot of street politicking in the city that made his name and that will send forth 12 jurors with his legal destiny, and potentially even his liberty, in their hands.
For his part, Biden offered his first comments on Trump’s legal challenges since the trial proceedings began, saying in an interview with Nexstar, “His lack of ethics has nothing to do with me.”
An unusual defendant faces the conventions of the court
Trump is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star who alleged she had an affair with Trump before he became president. Bragg’s theory of the case is that this alleged conduct resulted in Trump keeping vital information from voters ahead of the 2016 election. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denies having a sexual relationship with Daniels. This is only one of four trials looming over Trump; the others focus on his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his hoarding of classified documents.
