Not Trump, but witnesses determine the picture in court: ‘His family was not mentioned once’

ELizabeth Williams joins the queue in front of the court. She clutches a heavy stack of paper in her arms. “Here we go again,” she says. Williams has been a court draftsman in New York for more than 44 years. She has sketched everyone from Harvey Weinstein and R. Kelly to con man Bernie Madoff. But nothing compares to today’s case.

The beep of the metal detectors gets closer with every step. Williams shuffles along. “This security is incredible,” she sighs. ‘In the room I strain my neck to see the suspect among the officers.’

Then her papers shift. In the corner of a sheet, a blond quiff, recognizable from thousands, reveals itself. The drawn Donald Trump looks furious.

Persecution as a campaign theme

Cameras are not allowed at the New York criminal trial against the former American president, which will resume this Tuesday. It is Williams’ drawings, the descriptions of journalists and those in the witness box that determine the image. Whoever can’t get control over that: Donald Trump himself.

“I should be in Pennsylvania and Florida,” Trump complained outside the New York court last week. “And many other states, North Carolina, Georgia, to campaign.”

Since the former president learned last year that he would be prosecuted for buying off a porn star with campaign money, he has proven himself masterfully able to turn that problem to his advantage. Trump elevated his criminal case to a successful campaign theme. He shot up in the polls, donations poured in. Now that the process has begun, the image proves more difficult to direct.

Frozen angry frown

After artist Williams has sat down, the defendant walks in. Surrounded by lawyers and agents, Trump takes a seat in a red leather chair. Then, on the orders of Judge Juan Merchan, he keeps his mouth shut for hours. As witnesses tell their stories, Trump’s gaze remains frozen in an angry frown. Not being the most powerful person in the room, having to remain silent for someone else – he only knows those situations from the distant past. Now they rule his days.

While Trump remains silent in court, and is also muzzled outside with a gag order, the witnesses against him determine the narrative.

Last week it was David Pecker, a 72-year-old publisher with a gray dripping moustache. For years, Pecker and Trump were close friends. Now he explains in detail how he helped Trump neutralize negative stories. With his gossip magazine National Enquirer Pecker purchased stories about then-presidential candidate Trump in 2016 with the explicit purpose of not publishing them. “To protect the campaign,” Pecker says.

Dinner at the White House

According to the justice department, that is where the core of Trump’s crime lies. By using campaign money to buy such a story from porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom he had an alleged affair, Trump would have kept essential information from the American voter. Pecker was invited to a dinner at the White House as a thank you for his help. Photos of the publisher and the then president appear on the screen.

The men in the court make eye contact for a moment. “I consider him…,” David Pecker begins. He clears his throat and starts again. “I have no bad intentions,” he says. “I still consider him a friend.” Donald Trump lowers the corners of his mouth silently.

This is how it goes in New York four days a week. Witnesses talk, journalists describe, Elizabeth Williams signs and Trump is silent. While the former president is detained in court, competitor Joe Biden is campaigning in the most important swing states. Only in the evenings, after the hearing day, can he try to regain control.

Impromptu press conferences

In court, Trump holds impromptu press conferences every day: about his case, brandishing articles favorable to him, or about other campaign themes. For example, he started on Thursday about the somewhat disappointing economic growth figures that the Biden administration had published. “That’s the big news today, I think.”

Earlier, after the hearing, he visited a New York convenience store, where a man was stabbed to death years ago. Media attention remained limited in both cases. Revelations from the criminal case drown out these fleeting moments.

There are also risks involved. Trump has been given a gag order because he continued to make negative comments about witnesses, jurors and even family members of the judge. Almost every day, the justice department brings new violations to the court, asking Judge Merchan to impose consequences. This will happen during a special hearing on Thursday.

Family man

There is also a battle for the narrative within the court. “This is not the Donald Trump you know from television or read about,” Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche told the jury last week. ‘He’s a man too. He is a husband. He is a father. And he is a person, just like you and me.’

Both camps try to sell the jury the most credible story. The picture painted by the defense: Trump as a family man, who tries to keep painful lies about alleged affairs away from his wife. Not a presidential candidate who lied to the nation.

David Pecker undermines that reading. “In all our conversations, his family was not mentioned once,” the publisher says in the witness box. “It was about the campaign.”

Key witness: Michael Cohen

This week it will probably revolve around the most important witness in the trial: lawyer Michael Cohen, also an old friend of Trump. Cohen made the payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016 – claiming to be on behalf of the president – and received the money refunded from the campaign coffers. The credibility of Cohen’s story could mean the difference between victory and loss for both camps.

“Pure lies,” the former president sneered on social media last week, despite his gag order. Trump knows: once Cohen is in the witness box, he will have no choice but to remain silent.