Donald Trump looked “a bit vulnerable” and “worried” during his appearance at a New York courthouse, former UK ambassador to the US Lord Darroch has said.
The former president on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records before heading home to his Florida club Mar-a-Lago to deliver a speech in front of hundreds of supporters.
Lord Darroch, who resigned his role as ambassador following the leak of diplomatic cables in which he had been critical of the Trump administration, told Sky News on Wednesday: “I thought that in the arraignment proceeedings he looked subdued and generally worried about what was happening.
”He’s never actually had to face this before and I thought it was a of a side of Donald Trump we don’t often see.
“He looked a bit vulnerable,” he added.
In contrast, during Mr Trump’s speech at his Mar-a-Lago club following the Manhattan appearance, Lord Darroch said: “In front of his audience of supporters you saw classic Trump”.
“He was out there on his bombastic best or worse,” he said, adding that Mr Trump “feeds” off the energy of his supporters.
In his speech Mr Trump called for the “fake” case around alleged falsifying of business records to “be dropped immediately”, labelling it politically motivated.
“I never thought anything like this could happen in America,” Mr Trump said of the New York indictment.
“With all of this being said, and with a very dark cloud over our beloved country, I have no doubt nevertheless we will make America great again.
“The only crime that I have committed is to fearlessly defend our nation from those who seek to destroy it,” he added.
Reporters in the room commented on how he seemed subdued.
Mr Trump also used his speech to criticise a separate Justice Department investigation into the mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago and alleged interference in election votes in the state of Georgia.
When asked whether Mr Trump deliberately lies, Lord Darroch told Sky News: “He has in his head an alternative reality. I don’t think he ever believes he is deliberately lying to people.
“He just thinks it’s a reality that stands up in his own mind and should in the mind of others.”
Former Deputy Chief of Mission to the US Embassy in London, Lewis Lukens, told Sky News that “we should not underestimate” how challenging the legal cases will be for Mr Trump.
Mr Trump could probably win the 2024 presidential election “if he concentrated... on the right issues” and “stuck to the script”, he said.
But, “people get tired of Donald Trump complaining about how difficult his life has been”.
“The problem for Donald Trump is that he hasnt changed very much.
“If he could change and become a serious issues-focused politican I think he would have a very good chance of winning the presidency again, but I think he’s incapable of change.”
