Donald Trump is known for letting insults pass.
Yet for weeks, the famously combative Republican nominee has sat quietly — to the point of seeming asleep — in a barren Manhattan courtroom, amid a barrage of accusations and insults.
There were times when his former repairman-turned-main witness called him “a crude cartoon misogynist” and a “cheesy dusty” villain who belonged in a “cage, like an animal. “a porn actor about the night she says they had sex. And there have been lengthy descriptions of what prosecutors see as an illegal scheme to hide secret cash bills to save his then-struggling 2016 campaign.
Still, even as he and his allies attacked the case outdoors in the courtroom, Trump spent most of his time as a criminal defendant sitting almost motionless for hours, leaning against the back of a burgundy leather chair, his eyes closed. In the end, Trump opted not to testify in a case that made him the first former president in U. S. history to be tried on criminal charges.
Closing arguments in the case are scheduled for Tuesday, after which a jury will decide whether to make him the first former president and party primary candidate convicted of crimes.
Trump’s conduct in the courtroom is a notable departure from the combative-at-all-costs personality that has characterized him for decades of public life, fueling his transformation from a New York tabloid to a former (and long-term president imaginable).
And that has been at least partly strategic, according to other people familiar with Trump’s technique who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. Trump’s lawyers warned him that if he behaves as he has in his previous trials, where he mingled with the judges and escaped; It can damage your reputation in front of a jury that is likely watching your every move.
It seems that acting is in his interest, especially since he faces prison sentences if convicted.
Trump has also been able to deal with a media organization outside the courtroom several times a day, offering him a way to vent his frustrations and get his message across. Faced with a silence that forbids him to criticize the witnesses, his crusade has accumulated. a multitude of supporters – from vice-presidential candidates to the speaker of the House of Representatives – to unleash those attacks.
But this technique comes with its own threats. Some former prosecutors and lawyers who have followed the case intensively have said that while the disruptive habit may prove detrimental to the jury, there is also the threat that Trump will seem too disengaged.
“What you need is for your consumer to look attentive, respectful, and make it seem like nothing is bothering them, but also not to fall asleep,” Randall D said. Eliason, a former assistant U. S. attorney who specialized for years. in white-collar crimes.
Trump has continually denied reports from reporters watching him via closed-circuit television that he was sleeping in court, insisting on his social media site that he had just said “my beautiful blue eyes, pay attention intensely and take in EVERYTHING!!”
“No, I’m not going to fall asleep,” he told Telemundo Miami. “Sometimes I lie down and close my eyes. I hear everything perfectly. At some point I may fall asleep. But I’ll let you know when I do. “
Eliason said Trump’s habit is “definitely” anything that jurors noticed and could potentially understand as disrespectful if they felt “he’s acting like he doesn’t even deserve their attention” or the idea that he’s taking a nap.
“If it’s a tactic to try to make it look like he’s not involved in the testimony, I don’t think that works well,” he said. “I guess if you just listen with your eyes closed, meditate or whatever, it doesn’t sound so bad. But I think falling asleep, the jury would consider it disrespectful.
On the other hand, he added, “he will have to not get agitated” as he did in past trials.
In fact, sleeping in court would be very beneficial for a defendant.
“I’ve noticed that lawyers fall asleep, but never a defendant in a felony case. In my experience, their lives are at stake and they are sleeping,” said Stephen A. Saltzburg, a professor at George Washington University Law School, who wrote about the case.
“It’s conceivable that this is all just an act to show, ‘Hey, that’s wrong, I’m not going to pay attention to it,'” he added, but that wouldn’t do any good either. Since the jury has “paid attention to it, it doesn’t send the message that you’re respecting this whole jury process. “
Trump has not been entirely calm. During jury selection, he gave the impression of being alert and engaged, and at one point was reprimanded during the trial for his visual reactions to a jury’s responses.
“(While the jury is at the podium, about 12 feet away from your consumer, your consumer utters something audibly. . . makes audible gestures,” Judge Juan Merchán, one of Trump’s lawyers, warned in April.
“I will tolerate this. I will let any juror feel intimidated in this room,” he continued. “I need to make that clear. “
Later, when Stormy Daniels took the stand, Trump’s reaction to her testimony prompted Merchan to summon her lawyers.
“I sense that the consumer is disappointed at this point, but they’re audibly cursing and visually shaking their head and being dismissive. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see it,” Merchan said, according to the transcript.
But as the trial dragged on, adding testimony from his former lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump sat at rest, reclining in his chair, his eyes closed, lips pursed and his head tilted back or to the side. He moved from time to time. —infrequently to scratch when it itched. At times, he gave the impression of dozing, his mouth wide open, while sitting for hours in the fluorescent-lit courtroom.
Other times, he would re-engage, sitting upright, chatting with his lawyers or scribbling and passing notes. He would flip through piles of papers, look around the room, or stand directly with his arms crossed over his chest. He gave the impression of alertness and commitment during the combative testimony of defense witness Robert Costello, during which the judge threatened to remove Costello from the stand.
But then he returned to the position with his eyes closed and his head back, which was his default position.
This is in stark contrast to his custom in his previous civil trials, when Trump stormed out of the courtroom, actively fought with the justices, and made no effort to hide his disdain.
During his civil trial for advertising fraud, in which Cohen also testified, Trump blew up a court clerk, lashed out at the judge and, at one point, left the courtroom. The judge in that case fined Trump $355. million.
And in his defamation case against E. Jean Carroll, he was reprimanded for muttering as she spoke, told the judge that he would love to see him expelled from the courtroom, stood up and dropped Carroll’s closing argument, in front of the jury.
Saltzburg said he believes Trump’s habit in this case is one of the reasons the jury awarded him a whopping $83. 3 million.
“They wanted to send him a transparent message and they thought it would take a lot of money to do it,” he said.
In this case, said Jeffrey S. Jacobovitz, an attorney with extensive experience defending white-collar criminals, Trump’s habit is “something a jury would notice. “
The impression that he’s sleeping “will probably have a negative effect on the jury,” he said, adding, “I think I’d rather Trump be angry. “
Colvin writes for the Associated Press. AP editors Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhartz, Jennifer Peltz and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
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