The Trump campaign arrived in New York Supreme Criminal Court on Monday morning.
Donald Trump delivered remarks in the court hallway, while one his most loyal hucksters worked the crowd outside and c-list talking heads took their seats in an overflow room to watch proceedings.
This was what day one in the first of Trump’s criminal trials looked like.
The history books will record that the first ever trial of a former commander-in-chief, a momentous day for the nation and the world, opened with discussion of whether the evidence could include unproven allegations of sexual assault against him (no, said Judge Juan Merchan) or headlines that 2016 rival Ted Cruz‘s father was somehow involved in the assassination of JFK (yes, ruled the judge).
Through it all, in courtroom 1530 in downtown New York, the defendant made his displeasure clear.
Donald Trump sat stony faced, eyes narrowed and lips pursed as his lawyers did battle with prosecutors over how many salacious (and untrue) National Enquirer headlines could be shown to jurors and whether they could hear him say ‘grab them by their p*****s’ or whether they could only read transcripts of the famous Access Hollywood tape.
The Manhattan district attorney’s team sat shoulder to shoulder at their desk.
In contrast, Trump dominated the space among his legal team. He leaned back in his chair or shifted forward to look at a video screen, like a silverback gorilla reminding the courtroom of who was boss.
