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The coming months are going to provide former President Donald Trump with the reality of campaigning from outside a courtroom.
He has, heretofore, chosen to attend various court dates. When his criminal trial in Manhattan gets under way in late March, he could conceivably have locked up the GOP nomination but will have to attend the anticipated six-week trial or ask the judge to be excused.
We got a preview of this unprecedented criminal trial mixed with a presidential campaign on Thursday at a key hearing in the New York criminal case. This time, Trump had a choice – he might also have attended a hearing in Georgia, where District Attorney Fani Willis, who is overseeing his election interference case in the state, faces allegations of misconduct related to her relationship with a prosecutor she appointed to oversee the case, a soap opera on the side of the Trump trials.
Trump routinely manipulates the media spectacle outside court by rambling on about his criminal prosecutions and his political rivals. The details vary, but the main talking points stay largely the same and are repeated on a loop: political persecution, crime-ridden cities and his strong polling.
Here’s some of what Trump said Thursday in New York before heading into the courtroom, along with context.
It’s not clear what legal scholars Trump is referring to, but he says he’s not guilty of crimes in all four of the criminal cases he’s facing. He will repeat variations of “this is not a crime” as a kind of mantra…
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