Trump Uses the Courtroom as a Stage

New York Times: “Donald Trump’s behavior as he attended the defamation trial that ended on Friday with a jury ordering him to pay $83.3 million to the writer E. Jean Carroll — and his similar conduct in a pending civil case in New York — showcased his disdain both for a legal system seeking to hold him accountable and for the protocols of courtrooms where he has little control.”

“His use of the defense table as a stage also provided clues to the public, and a reminder to his own legal team, of how he might handle himself if and when any of the four criminal cases he is facing go to trial. In all of those cases he will be required to be present throughout the proceedings, unlike in the Carroll case or the New York attorney general’s case accusing him of business fraud, both civil trials in which he was free to attend or not as he wished.”