NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump is not known for letting slights slide.
Yet for weeks, the famously combative Republican candidate sat silently – to the point of sometimes appearing asleep – in a sterile Manhattan courtroom amid a barrage of accusations and insults.
There were times when his former fixer-turned-chief prosecution witness was quoted calling him a “gross cartoon misogynist” and a “Cheeto-dusted” villain who belonged in a “cage, like an animal.” There were graphic details conveyed by a porn star about the night she claims they had sex and there were lengthy descriptions of what prosecutors argue was an illegal scheme to hide cash payments to save his then-failing 2016 campaign.
Despite all this, even as he and his allies attacked the case outside of court, Trump spent most of his time as a criminal defendant sitting almost motionless for hours, leaning back in his burgundy leather chair with his eyes closed. Ultimately, he chose not to testify in a case that made him the first former president in the country’s history to be tried on criminal charges.
Final arguments in the case are scheduled for Tuesday, after which a jury will decide whether to make him the first former president and major party candidate convicted on criminal charges.
Trump’s behavior inside the courtroom has been a notable departure from the fight-at-all-costs personality that has defined him over decades of public life, fueling his transformation from a New York tabloid fixture to a former — and possible future — – president.
And it has been at least partly strategic, according to people familiar with Trump’s approach who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case. Trump’s lawyers have warned him that behaving as he did in his previous trials — where he tangled with judges and stormed out — could harm his standing before a jury that will likely be watching his every move and determining his fate.
Taking action, he appears to have concluded, is not in his interests, especially since he risks imprisonment if convicted.
Trump has also been able to speak several times a day to a group of media outlets camped outside the courthouse, giving him a way to vent his frustrations and get his message across. Facing a gag order that prohibits him from criticizing witnesses, his campaign has rallied a range of supporters — from vice presidential candidates to the speaker of the House — to deliver these attacks instead.
But the approach carries its own risks. Some former prosecutors and lawyers who have been closely following the case said that while the disruptive behavior could be detrimental to the jury, there is also a risk that Trump will appear too disinterested.
“What you want is for your client to appear attentive, respectful, and seem like nothing is bothering them — but also not to fall asleep,” said Randall D. Eliason, a former assistant U.S. attorney who for years specialized in collar crimes. white.
Trump has repeatedly denied reports from journalists watching him via closed-circuit television that he is sleeping in court, insisting on his social media site that he simply close “my beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely and take it ALL in!” !! ”
“No, I don’t fall asleep,” he told Telemundo Miami. “Sometimes I sit and close my eyes. I hear everything perfectly. At some point I may fall asleep. But I’ll let you know when that happens.
Eliason said Trump’s behavior was “definitely” something jurors would notice and might consider disrespectful if they felt “he’s acting like he’s not even worth their attention” or thought he was taking a nap.
“If it’s a tactic to try to make it seem like he’s not concerned about the testimony, I don’t think it would work well,” he said. “I think if he’s just listening with his eyes closed, meditating or something, it doesn’t seem so bad. But I think falling asleep would be quite disrespectful to the jury.”
On the other hand, he added, “You don’t want it to get really agitated,” as it has during previous tests.
In fact, sleeping in court would be very unusual for a defendant.
“I have witnessed lawyers fall asleep, but never a defendant in a criminal case. Their lives are at stake and they don’t sleep in my experience,” said Stephen A. Saltzburg, a professor at George Washington University Law School who has written about the case.
“It’s possible this is all an act to show, ‘Hey, this is fake, I’m not going to pay attention to this,’” he added, but that would also be pointless. “Because the jury has to pay attention, it doesn’t send the message that you respect the entire jury process.”
Trump was not fully sedated. During jury selection, he appeared alert and engaged, and at one point was reprimanded by the judge for his visible reactions to a juror’s responses.
“While the juror was at the podium, about 12 feet from his client, he was audibly uttering something…he was audibly gesturing,” Judge Juan Merchan warned one of his lawyers in April.
“I will not tolerate this. I will not allow any juror to be intimidated in this courtroom,” he continued. “I want to make this very clear.”
Later, when Stormy Daniels took the stand, Trump’s reaction to her testimony once again prompted Merchan to summon his lawyers to appear in court.
“I understand that your client is upset right now, but he is swearing loudly and visually shaking his head, which is dismissive. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that,” Merchan said, according to the transcript.
But as the trial dragged on, and particularly during the testimony of his former lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump often sat at rest, leaning back in his chair, with his eyes closed, his lips pursed, and his head tilted back or forth. the side. He would change it every now and then – sometimes to scratch it. At times he seemed to doze off, mouth agape as he sat for hours in the fluorescent-lit courtroom.
Other times, he would resume, sitting up straight, chatting with his lawyers or scribbling and passing notes. He often flipped through stacks of papers, looked around the courtroom, or sat upright with his arms crossed over his chest. He appeared especially alert and engaged during defense witness Robert Costello’s combative testimony, during which the judge threatened to remove Costello from the stand.
But then he returned to the eyes-closed, head-back position that had become his default.
It has been a marked contrast to his behavior in his previous civil trials, when Trump stormed out of the courtroom, actively argued with the judges and made no effort to hide his disdain.
During his civil trial for corporate fraud, during which Cohen also testified, Trump knocked down a court clerk, attacked the judge and, at one point, marched out of the courtroom. The judge in that case imposed a $355 million fine on Trump.
And in his E. Jean Carroll defamation case, he was reprimanded for mumbling while she spoke, told the judge he would love it if he were removed from the courtroom, and got up and left during Carroll’s closing argument, in front of the jury.
Saltzburg said he believes Trump’s behavior in this case is one of the reasons the jury awarded him a whopping $83.3 million.
“They wanted to send you a clear message and they thought it would take a lot of money to do that,” he said.
In this case, said Jeffrey S. Jacobovitz, a lawyer with extensive experience in white-collar criminal defense, Trump’s behavior is “something that a jury would certainly notice.”
The perception that he is asleep “will probably have a negative effect on the jury,” he said, adding, “I think I would prefer an angry Trump.”
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Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak, Jake Offenhartz, Jennifer Peltz and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
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