dChan - Q Origins Project Archive

Trump Reportedly Nods Off While Attending First Day of Criminal Trial

Prosecutors are already moving to punish the former president for his Truth Social posts. He didn't seem riveted

APRIL 15, 2024

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 15: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears ahead of the start of jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024 in New York City. Former President Donald Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial.

Donald Trump has been in court plenty of times in the last few months, but on Monday he became the first American president to stand trial for an alleged criminal offense. Day One of the former president’s trial on charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels began in Manhattan — and tensions ran high.

State prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys kicked things off by arguing over what evidence will be admissible during the proceedings, and it quickly became clear that the jury selection process might take quite a while. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg‘s team also pushed to have Trump punished for allegedly violating a gag order, while Judge Juan Merchan threatened to punish the former president separately, should he disrupt the court or fail to attend even a single day of the trial.

Trump didn’t exactly seem riveted by the action, according to reports. Maggie Haberman of The New York Times reportedthat the former president appeared “to be sleeping” during the proceedings, with his head bobbing and mouth going slack. He was later “jolted awake” to notice notes his lawyer passed him minutes earlier, she wrote. Haberman expounded on Trump nodding off during an interview with CNN.

“He appeared to be asleep,” she said. “He didn’t pay attention to a note his lawyer passed him. His jaw kept falling on his chest and his mouth kept going slack. Sometimes people do fall asleep during court proceedings, but it’s notable considering the intensity of this morning.”

The Guardian also reported that Trump appeared to nod off.

Trump reportedly glared at Haberman for “several seconds” later on Monday.

Trump was awake, however, when Merchan read him his Parker Warning, answering that he understood that he could be “committed to jail” should he cause a commotion during the trial, and that he could be arrested if he failed to show up. “If you do not show up there will be an arrest,” Merchan said of the requirement that the defendant attend every day of the proceedings.

Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor on Bragg’s team, indicated that the state would submit a request “seeking an order to show cause why Defendant should not be held in contempt” after flaunting an order from the court barring him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and jurors involved in the case. Steinglass argued that — among several other instances — Trump attacked two key witnesses in the case, Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, in a Wednesday Truth Social post referring to the pair as “sleazebags.”

The prosecution later requested that Trump be fined $1,000 for each gag order and at least $3,000 in total, and Merchan scheduled a hearing on whether Trump violated his gag order for April 23.

Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump last month as the former president leveled a series of attacks against those involved in the case — and also Merchan’s daughter. Trump has continued to rail against those involved in the case, while sharing articles about the judge’s daughter rather than explicitly attacking her himself. Trump has also been railing at length about the gag order itself, calling it “unconstitutional’ and “un-American.”

Tension built in the courtroom as the prosecution previewed their case, as well. Bragg’s team submitted several evidentiary requests that indicate they are setting up to argue that in the aftermath of the infamous Access Hollywood tape — in which Trump declared he could grab women “by the pussy” with no consequence — his campaign fell into disaster mode, prompting efforts to buy Daniels silence regarding her alleged affair with the former president.

Merchan determined that the Access Hollywood tape could not be played before a jury, but that prosecutors would be allowed to use relevant transcripts from the video. The judge further determined that the prosecution could introduce articles from the National Enquirer supporting their allegations that Trump coordinated with the publication’s then-owner, David Pecker, to approve and plant stories trashing his 2016 opponents…

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-new-york-hush-money-trial-day-one-1235004719/

if there is no video allowed in courtroom, how do they prove this. That picture looks like a drawing, painted in.