Donald Trump has appeared at times angrily under siege as he stews over his predicament in the New York civil fraud case, according to people close to the former president, particularly furious in recent weeks with the witness testimony that could result in the end of the Trump Organization empire.
The rulings from the presiding New York state supreme court justice Arthur Engoron, who found that Trump and co-defendants were liable for fraud and ordered all of Trump’s adult children to testify at the ongoing trial, for instance, have taken a toll.
“So sad to see my sons being PERSECUTED in a political Witch Hunt by this out of control, publicity seeking, New York State Judge, on a case that should have NEVER been brought,” Trump partially wrote in one Truth Social post. “Legal Scholars Scream Disgrace!”
And Trump was furious when the judge imposed a gag order against him in the New York case, as well as when the judge enforced $15,000 in fines last week after deciding that Trump violated its prohibitions by assailing the judge’s law clerk.
But Trump appears to have been otherwise content with his legal situation, including with the multiple criminal cases that are marching towards trial, the people said – an observation that the playbook he reverts to when feeling threatened, to attack and delay, has lately been successful.
That strategy has not always worked out for Trump. In fact, it has sometimes created more serious problems, such as when he attacked the prosecutors investigating his retention of classified documents – only to have his comments used against him in the subsequent indictment.
But the well-worn legal playbook of attacking and distracting in recent weeks has brought Trump victories in court that have actually buoyed and emboldened him, the people said, despite the mounting legal peril he stares down from his multiple pending civil and criminal cases and a series of key fellow defendants in the Georgia election interference case taking plea deals.
That playbook was on display in the New York civil fraud case on Friday, when Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise repeatedly fired missiles during the trial, sparring with the judge over notes he was being passed by the same law clerk that Trump had been fined for disparaging.
It was unclear whether it came at Trump’s direction or whether it was his lawyer’s initiative, but the attacks had an effect: the prosecutor from the New York attorney general’s team complained it affected his presentation, and it also served to distract from Eric Trump’s sometimes shaky testimony.
Trump has been particularly jubilant at how the playbook has given him wins in the federal criminal cases, the people said, starting with the judge in the classified documents case appearing inclined to push back key deadlines that could result in delaying the start of the trial.
The former president has made it no secret that his overarching legal strategy in his criminal cases is to seek delay, ideally beyond the 2024 election in November, in the hopes that winning re-election could enable him to potentially pardon himself or direct his attorney general to drop the charges.
The prosecutors in the office of special counsel Jack Smith had explicitly complained that Trump’s requests to postpone some deadlines – because the trail dates being so close together could cause them to “collide” – amounted to a request to delay the trial.
But encouraged by Trump’s lead lawyer Todd Blanche, who in an audacious moment blamed prosecutors for the hectic trial schedule because they had the gall to charge him with crimes in Florida in Washington, the judge suggested she would make adjustments as requested by Trump’s team.
Trump has also expressed satisfaction with his lawyers pushing back in the 2020 election subversion case, the people said, including with the lawyers who asked the DC circuit on Friday to temporarily pause the gag order prohibiting him from assailing prosecutors and potential trial witnesses.
In that matter, however, the playbook showed its penchant for biting him long-term: Trump had the gag order temporarily lifted pending appeal, but drew a massively unfavorable panel of judges nominated by Democratic presidents, who are almost certain to ultimately rule against him.
