Former President Trump is reliving his chaotic 2016 campaign in a New York courtroom as he seeks to return to the White House with an election victory in 2024.
Trump’s secret trial in Manhattan has brought unpleasant details about his first run for president back into the spotlight, with testimony detailing payments to women who alleged they had affairs with Trump, as well as his campaign’s struggle to manage the fallout from the infamous “Access Hollywood”. “Tape.
Trump has worked hard to convince voters that the trial is politically motivated, calling the judge “conflicted” and suggesting that some witnesses and testimony are off limits in the case. He also suggested that the trial, which he must attend in person every day, is a way to keep him out of the campaign.
But his allies said that while some aspects of the trial might be personally embarrassing for Trump to relive, the political consequences would likely be minimal.
“Number one is that he won [in 2016]. Number two is… you’re not learning anything new about Donald Trump on any of these issues,” said Sean Spicer, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary. “It’s not new. The Band-Aid was stolen.”
A former Trump White House official suggested that most Americans were not paying close attention to daily developments and testimony in the case, lessening the risk that Trump’s weaknesses in 2016 would hurt him with voters in the short term.
Trump is charged with 34 criminal counts of falsifying business records in the New York case, which revolves around a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign, with the aim of preventing her her to go public with her story of an alleged affair with Trump.
Trump has denied the case and his lawyers have noted that hush money payments are not illegal in and of themselves. They claim that the former president did nothing wrong.
The hush money payment and the “Access Hollywood” tape, released in October 2016, in which Trump can be heard bragging about groping women, were central to recent trial testimony.
Hope Hicks, a former senior adviser to Trump and one of the most important witnesses to date, acknowledged in her testimony that the tape was a “crisis” that left her “very concerned.”
Hicks also detailed knowledge of secret payments made to Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, testifying that Trump expressed concerns about how his wife, Melania, would react.
Such testimony could reinforce the defense’s claim that the hush money payments were aimed at avoiding embarrassment to Trump’s family rather than preserving his political fortunes ahead of the election.
Trump’s 2024 campaign contrasted sharply with his 2016 candidacy, when he was an insurgent candidate accompanied by advisers who had relatively little experience running a presidential campaign. While that operation was often plagued by leaks and infighting, his 2024 campaign was run by Trump and a tight circle of trusted advisers.
Trump at times appeared irritated by the way the trial unearthed scandals from his first presidential campaign.
The former president, in a post on social media last Friday, accused the judge responsible for the secret money case of trying to make the trial “as salacious as possible, although these things have NOTHING to do with this FAKE case” .
On Monday, Trump told reporters outside the courtroom that the prosecution had “absolutely no case.”
“Even the witnesses they want to bring in have nothing to do with the case,” he said. “This is a ridiculous situation.”
Trump has been relentless since the charges were first filed last year, claiming that the hush money case and the other three criminal cases against him are politically motivated and intended to harm his bid for the White House in 2024.
The former president’s aides and allies took to the airwaves to promote the same message, and Trump’s campaign sought to raise money from the outrage caused by his criminal cases.
“Americans, the outcome of this trial does not affect you,” North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), Trump’s potential running mate, said Sunday on CNN. “The trial may be a cable show, but the average American already knows what they think about President Trump, President Biden — they’re looking at the policies, not the people.”
But there are some signs that Trump’s conduct surrounding the 2016 election could spell trouble for his 2024 candidacy, if convicted.
One ABC news/mePsos poll published on Sunday, found that 80 percent of Trump supporters said they would still support him even if he were convicted of a crime in the hush money case.
But 16 percent of respondents said they would reconsider their support, while 4 percent said they would withdraw their support for Trump, which could make the difference in what is expected to be a close election.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
