{"id":6194,"date":"2024-05-24T16:10:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T08:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=6194"},"modified":"2024-05-24T16:10:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T08:10:24","slug":"trump-swaps-bluster-for-silence-and-possibly-sleep-in-his-hush-money-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=6194","title":{"rendered":"Trump swaps bluster for silence, and possibly sleep, in his hush money trial"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"719\" height=\"521\" src=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/126.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6195\" style=\"width:718px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/126.png 719w, https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/126-300x217.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 719px) 100vw, 719px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Donald Trump isn\u2019t known for letting slights pass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet for weeks, the famously combative presumptive Republican nominee has sat silently \u2014 to the point of sometimes seeming asleep \u2014 in a sterile Manhattan courtroom amid a barrage of accusations and insults.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There were the times his former fixer-turned-chief prosecution witness was quoted calling him a \u201cboorish cartoon misogynist\u201d and a \u201cCheeto-dusted\u201d villain who belonged in a \u201ccage, like an animal.\u201d There were the graphic details relayed by a porn actor about the night she claims they had sex. And there were lengthy descriptions of what the prosecution argues was an illegal scheme to conceal hush money payments to salvage his then-flailing 2016 campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Through it all, even as he and his allies attacked the case outside the courtroom, Trump has spent the majority of his time as a criminal defendant sitting nearly motionless for hours, leaning back in his burgundy leather chair with his eyes closed. He ultimately chose not to testify in a case that made him the first former president in the nation\u2019s history to stand trial on criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Closing 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 nominee convicted of felony charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump\u2019s demeanor inside the courtroom has been a notable departure from the fight-at-all-costs persona that has defined him through decades of public life, fueling his transformation from a New York tabloid fixture to a onetime \u2013 and possible future \u2013 president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And it has been at least partially strategic, according to people familiar with Trump\u2019s approach who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the case. Trump\u2019s attorneys have warned him that behaving as he did in his previous trials \u2014 where he tangled with judges and stormed out \u2014 could damage his standing with a jury that is likely watching his every move and will determine his fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Acting out, he appears to have concluded, is not in his best interest, particularly as he faces the risk of imprisonment if he\u2019s convicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump has also been able to speak several times a day to a gaggle of media camped outside the courtroom, giving him an outlet to vent his frustrations and get his message out. Facing a gag order that prohibits him from criticizing witnesses, his campaign has assembled a host of supporters \u2014 from vice presidential contenders to the House speaker \u2014 to deliver those attacks instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the approach comes with its own risks. Some former prosecutors and attorneys who have been closely following the case said that while disruptive behavior could prove detrimental to the jury, there\u2019s also a risk of Trump appearing too disengaged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat you want is for your client to look attentive, respectful and look like nothing is bothering him \u2014 but also not falling asleep,\u201d said Randall D. Eliason, a former assistant U.S. attorney who for years specialized in white-collar crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>EYES WIDE SHUT<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">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 closes \u201cmy beautiful blue eyes, sometimes, listen intensely, and take it ALL in!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo, I don\u2019t fall asleep,\u201d he told Telemundo Miami. \u201cI sometimes will sit back, close my eyes. I hear everything perfectly. At some point I may fall asleep. But I will let you know when that is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eliason said Trump\u2019s demeanor was \u201cdefinitely\u201d something jurors would notice and could potentially perceive as disrespectful if they feel \u201dhe\u2019s acting like it\u2019s not even worth his attention\u201d or think he\u2019s taking a nap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf it\u2019s a tactic to try to make it look like he\u2019s not concerned about the testimony, I don\u2019t think that would play well,\u201d he said. \u201cI guess if he\u2019s really just sort of listening with eyes closed, meditating or whatever, that doesn\u2019t seem so bad. But I think falling asleep, the jury would find quite disrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the other hand, he added, \u201cYou don\u2019t want him to get really agitated\u201d as he did during previous trials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Actually, sleeping in court would be highly unusual for a defendant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have witnessed lawyers fall asleep, but never a defendant in a criminal case. Their lives are at stake and they don\u2019t sleep in my experience,\u201d said Stephen A. Saltzburg, a professor at the George Washington University Law School who has been writing about the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s possible it\u2019s all an act to show: \u2018Hey, this is bogus, I\u2019m not going to pay attention to it,\u2019\u201d he added, but that would also be unhelpful. \u201cSince the jury has to pay attention, that doesn\u2019t send a message that you respect this whole jury process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>\u2018YOUR CLIENT IS UPSET\u2019<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump hasn\u2019t been entirely sedated. During jury selection, he appeared alert and engaged, and was at one point reprimanded by the judge for his visible reactions to one juror\u2019s answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201c(W)hile the juror was at the podium maybe 12 feet from your client, your client was audibly uttering something &#8230; he was audibly gesturing,\u201d Judge Juan Merchan warned one of his lawyers in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI won\u2019t tolerate that. I will not have any jurors intimidated in this courtroom,\u201d he went on. \u201cI want to make that crystal clear.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Later, when Stormy Daniels was on the stand, Trump\u2019s reaction to her testimony once again prompted Merchan to summon his lawyers to the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI understand that your client is upset at this point, but he is cursing audibly, and he is shaking his head visually and that\u2019s contemptuous. It has the potential to intimidate the witness and the jury can see that,\u201d Merchan said, according to the transcript.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But as the trial dragged on, and particularly during his ex-attorney Michael Cohen\u2019s testimony, Trump most often sat in repose, leaning back in his chair, with his eyes closed, his lips pursed and his head tilted back or to the side. He shifted from time to time \u2014 sometimes to scratch an itch. Sometimes he appeared to doze off, his mouth falling agape as he sat for hours in the fluorescent-lit courtroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other times, he re-engaged, sitting upright, chatting with his lawyers or scribbling and passing notes. He often leafed through stacks of papers, looked around the courtroom or sat upright, with his arms folded across his chest. He appeared especially alert and engaged during defense witness Robert Costello\u2019s combative testimony, during which the judge threatened to remove Costello from the stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But afterward, he returned to the eyes-closed, head-back position that became his default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>PAST OUTBURSTS<\/strong><strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s been a marked contrast from his demeanor at his earlier civil trials, when Trump stormed out of the courtroom, actively sparred with judges and made no effort to shield his disdain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his business fraud civil trial, during which Cohen also testified, Trump blasted a court clerk from the stand, lashed out at the judge and, at one point, marched out of the courtroom. The judge in that case issued Trump a $355 million penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And in his E. Jean Carroll defamation case, he was reprimanded for muttering while she spoke, told the judge he would love it if he were removed from the courtroom, and stood up and walked out during Carroll\u2019s closing argument, in front of the jury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saltzburg said he believes Trump\u2019s behavior in that case is one of the reasons the jury awarded her a whopping $83.3 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey wanted to send a clear message to him and they thought it would take a lot of money to do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In this case, said Jeffrey S. Jacobovitz, a trial attorney with extensive experience in white-collar criminal defense, Trump\u2019s demeanor is \u201csomething that a jury would certainly notice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The perception that he\u2019s been sleeping \u201cis likely to have a negative effect on the jury,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI think I would prefer angry Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump isn\u2019t known for letting slights pass. Yet for weeks, the famously combative presumptive Republican nominee has sat silently \u2014 to the point of sometimes seeming asleep \u2014 in a sterile Manhattan courtroom amid a barrage of accusations and insults. There were the times his former fixer-turned-chief prosecution witness was quoted calling him a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[61],"class_list":["post-6194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-usa"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Trump swaps bluster for silence, and possibly sleep, in his hush money trial - LISTEN WORLD<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tingchao.xyz\/?p=6194\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump swaps bluster for silence, and possibly sleep, in his hush money trial - LISTEN WORLD\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Donald Trump isn\u2019t known for letting slights pass. 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