Donald Trump has attacked the judge in the criminal case from the safety of the Florida country club and on the social media platform, but failed to raise one word of complaint to the face of Justice Juan Merchan while sitting just a yard away at Trump’s arraignment.
“Yes.” “I understand.” “Thanks.”
Those responses to Merchan’s questions comprised half of the total words the former coup-attempted president spoke during a 45-minute hearing Tuesday at a courthouse in Manhattan. The first two words are an apparent starting point: “Not guilty.”
Trump’s other answer was Merchan’s question about whether he understood the instructions Merchan had given him regarding courtroom rules and lawyers.
Just hours later at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Trump delivered a 25-minute speech attacking the various prosecutors investigating his conduct, and claiming without evidence that Merchan was biased against him.
“I have a judge who hates Trump with a wife and a family who hates Trump whose daughter works for Kamala Harris and is now getting money from the Biden-Harris campaign. And a lot of it,” Trump told a specially invited crowd.
Trump has expressed the same sentiments in a post on the Truth Social site a few hours before entering the courtroom: “THE TOP PARTISAN JUDGE AND HIS FAMILY ARE NOTORIOUS TRUMP HAMERS. HE WAS AN UNJUST DISASTER IN CASES RELATED TO TRUMP BEFORE, NOT will back down, give terrible jury instructions, and fail to do so during witchcraft trial. WORKING DAUGHTER KAMALA & NOW THE BIDEN-HARRIS CAMPAIGN. KANGAROO COURT!!!”
JANE ROSENBERG via Reuters
Trump’s campaign staff did not respond to HuffPost’s questions about why Trump didn’t get a chance to address his concerns directly to Merchan.
Other Republicans believe they have a good idea why.
“Because when it comes to real life, Trump is a coward,” said Jennifer Horn, former chair of the New Hampshire GOP. “His arrogance and bravado disappeared when the MAGA audience wasn’t around.”
Mike Murphy, a former top GOP consultant who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns, says Trump actually lacks the power he boasts. “Trump’s personal game is always different from the public show he puts on for voters, which he considers a rube,” he said.
Trump’s arraignment Tuesday is for a grand jury indictment handed up last week that includes 34 felony counts of falsifying business records stemming from a $130,000 payment to an adult movie star in the days before the 2016 election. Trump won by just 77,744 votes in three key states — meaning Stormy Daniels’ successful suppression of the story could be the deciding factor in his victory.
The next court date in the case isn’t until December, but Trump also faces potential charges from three other criminal investigations. Georgia prosecutors are investigating Trump’s attempt to pressure officials into overturning his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in the state. The US Department of Justice is also investigating Trump’s actions up to and including January 6, 2021, including his use of a false slate of pro-Trump voters and efforts to block Biden’s election certification. The DOJ is conducting a separate investigation into Trump’s refusal to turn over classified documents in defiance of subpoenas demanding he do so.
Horn said Trump knows Tuesday is just the beginning, and it’s only going to get worse. “I feel scared,” he said. “They know this is just the beginning.”
Rick Tyler, who works for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s 2016 run for the GOP nomination, said: “Outside the courtroom Trump is a casting director, screenwriter, set designer and the main actor in a real-life game show. In the courtroom, he is a criminal defendant.