There are few distractions in the courtroom during Donald J. Trump’s criminal trial. Lawyers and witnesses speak. The onlookers are tense and silent. A company of armed court officers and secret agents guard the room.
But reporters this week saw one of the trial’s most notable hiatus as defendant Michael D. Cohen explained why he broke with his former boss in 2018, after saying he had spent more than a decade following Mr. Trump’s orders. I turned away from him to look at him.
A parade of Trump’s Republican supporters, including governors and former presidential candidates, entered the courtroom, providing a living example of the loyalty that Cohen described earlier and would soon disavow.
Central aspects of Mr. Trump’s operating style are key to the complex story told by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. And those characteristics are all over the court.
Despite Trump’s lead lawyer, Todd Blanche, taking a sledgehammer to the former fixer’s credibility this week and forcing him to admit that he had lied under oath in the past, prosecutors said Cohen I have confidence in his testimony.
But whether Mr. Trump is convicted or acquitted, or whether the trial ends in a hung jury, this trial will continue to focus on the use of allies as bullies, obsession with the media, and beauty It highlighted tactics and actions that have been favored by former presidents for decades, including encouraging and encouraging. Show loyalty.That familiar pattern He helped Trump win one election and could propel him to a second, as he has reshaped the Republican Party into an organization that supports what Trump wants.
Mr. Trump begins each court day with a grimace on his face when cameras come to take pictures before jurors enter the court, and his facial expression has been criticized as “tough.”
Most days, Trump is accompanied by Boris Epshteyn, Trump’s top legal adviser and a controversial figure within the former president’s team. Mr. Epshtein was previously represented by Mr. Branch, who helped him join the Trump campaign.
Mr. Epshteyn began appearing in court for the first time the day after he was indicted in Arizona. The charges were related to efforts to create a so-called fake electoral roll to help Trump maintain power after losing the 2020 election and refusing to concede. Mr. Epshtein was also recently seen in court handing a journalist a printout of a Truth Social post in which Mr. Trump mocked attorney George Conway, a regular critic who has covered the case for The Atlantic. .
Former female aides testified to the former president’s deep love for his wife. But the presence of his entourage, and even the well-groomed entourage he now travels with, underscores the importance Trump places on being seen as surrounded by attractive women. There is. Decades before he became president, Trump expressed an interest in being seen as a popular playboy.
The act is at the heart of the “Access Hollywood” recording, in which Trump can be heard bragging about grabbing women by their genitals. Prosecutors allege the recording was part of the reason Trump tried to hide the story about porn actress Stormy Daniels just before the 2016 presidential election.
And the number of elected officials and former candidates arriving to defend Trump, who has been speaking out in person and on social media to encourage people to stand up on his behalf and affirm Trump. This reflects his constant demands.
Despite weeks of debate in Trump’s world early in the trial over who would fill the two rows behind the defense table reserved for defendants’ lawyers, support staff and family members, Trump Very few people showed up with him.
But Mr. Trump has told several people he wants to see more allies in court, and word has spread among elected officials who have long seen Mr. Trump value loyalty. One day, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, appeared in court, serving as a beacon of sorts for the ranks of soon-to-be politicians. Last week, members of the House of Representatives, the state attorney general and the governor filled the seats reserved for the defense.
Trump also had two running mates, Vivek Ramaswamy and J.D. Vance. Their attendance showed support for the presumptive nominee, who has repeatedly complained in the final days of Trump’s term that former Vice President Mike Pence was not strong enough.
Even the speaker of the House, a staunch conservative who has expressed an aversion to porn in the past, arrived outside court to defend the former president less than a week after the porn star left the witness stand. did.
Inside the building, Trump’s aides went beyond what court rules allow. Some of his supporters took advantage of an exception granted to lawyers and support staff to sit in the defense row and use cellphones, which are prohibited elsewhere in the courtroom, to text messages. Some people have sent emails and posted about the lawsuit on social media.
Photography and video recording are strictly prohibited inside state courtrooms. Still, as with other high-profile defendants, news cameras were installed in the courtroom hallways, allowing Trump to speak to the press and allowing his allies to create content on his behalf. An opportunity arose.
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz posted on Thursday, “Stand back, Mr. President,” above a photo of himself standing behind the former president as he spoke in the hallway. . These words echoed Trump’s own words in 2020, when he sent a message to the far-right extremist group Proud Boys during a debate with President Biden.
On Tuesday, some of the same allies who blocked Mr. Cohen’s testimony once again tested the limits of permissibility by filming themselves in a waiting room used by the defense. Trump’s son Eric, his daughter-in-law Lara, former rival Ramaswamy and two members of the House of Representatives shot a video titled “Breaking News Video from the Courts.”
“I want you to support him,” Florida Rep. Byron Donald said in a video sent along with Trump’s fundraising email.
On Thursday, Judge Juan M. Marchan advised Mr. Blanche not to let it happen again after prosecutors mentioned the interruption during Mr. Cohen’s testimony two days earlier. The defense attorney protested, saying, “We have no control over what’s going on.” When Judge Marchand asked if he was expecting anyone else that day, Mr. Blanche replied that he did not know.
“Sir, I don’t know,” he said, “No, I don’t expect anyone else. But I could be wrong.”
He didn’t need anyone else. In addition to Epshteyn and Eric Trump, Trump’s entourage that day included 11 members of Congress. The group was already seated behind the defense table, awaiting Mr. Cohen’s cross-examination.
