Litman: How Trump's trial will go well beyond the charges to paint a damning portrait of him
by Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times— The scheme at the heart of the charges against Donald Trump in New York is well-known: To keep allegations of an affair with the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels from becoming public, Trump is accused of agreeing to pay her $130,000, camouflaged as payments to Michael Cohen for legal services. It’s in the camouflaging that Trump is charged with committing the 34 felonies at issue before a jury starting Monday. But the jury, and the country, are going to hear a lot of evidence of Trump’s other...
MSNBC—Trump’s first criminal trial poses a dire political problem — and it’s only going to get worse. Conventional political wisdom suggests the first criminal trial of Donald Trump, which got underway in Manhattan last week, will have a minimal effect on the 2024 election. Many political observers see the allegations — covering up hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election — as relatively trifling, and certainly not comparable to the other three indictments Trump faces in Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C. Even a guilty verdict in the trial would “be unlikely to have a big influence come...
MSNBC—Eric Trump’s court presence at Donald Trump’s trial didn’t help his dad’s ‘family man’ strategy. Especially since Jan. 6, much has been written about the call-and-response dynamic between Donald Trump and his supporters. But since the beginning of the Manhattan district attorney’s criminal trial against Trump last month, a different feedback loop has been on display: After the media makes observations of the former president’s courtroom arrangements and behavior, Team Trump appears to make noticeable tweaks in response. Don’t believe me? After the press noted that Trump was sitting alone...
KIFI—Trump will go from the trial to the trail and back again. Analysis by Stephen Collinson, CNN (CNN) — Donald Trump will make his most concentrated effort yet to turn his criminal trial into a political asset in the next two days, heading from the courtroom to the campaign trail and back again. The former president’s hush money trial resumes in New York on Tuesday as prosecutors