Former President Donald Trump’s presence in a New York courthouse on Monday marks the beginning of a delicate balancing act between his legal obligations and his campaign activities. This comes at a critical juncture in his bid for the general election.
The Republican presidential nominee is mandated to be in court every weekday, barring Wednesdays, as per the court’s schedule. Despite these constraints, Trump’s team is striving to maintain his engagement with voters and donors.
Since announcing his third presidential run in late 2022, Trump has typically limited his campaign events to two days a week. However, his court commitments will significantly restrict his ability to travel for fundraising and campaigning at his discretion, a fact that has been a cause for concern among his staff.
This weekend provides a glimpse into the balancing act that lies ahead. Trump is slated to travel to New York City following a campaign rally and donor event in Pennsylvania on Saturday. He will then be briefed by his legal team on Sunday regarding court protocol and messaging, according to sources familiar with his plans.
Despite the limited camera access in the federal courthouse and the absence of video coverage of the trial, Trump’s team is confident that the trial’s news coverage will keep him in the limelight. As he did during his previous fraud trial, Trump will aim to remain at the forefront of the public’s attention.
Trump is expected to address the media before and after his court appearances and is likely to deliver on-camera remarks at his Trump Tower residence following his court appearances. However, these remarks will be subject to his whims, as is often the case with the former president.
“Every time the president is in court, all of the focus is on him and the message he’s driving,” a campaign official said. Some of Trump’s advisers believe that his court presence will continue to benefit him, despite keeping him off the campaign trail.
However, others privately admit that they are venturing into uncharted territory, and strategies that worked during the Republican primary may not necessarily appeal to undecided or critical independent voters. “There’s always a concern about Trump fatigue,” a senior adviser said.
In addition to his courtroom appearances, Trump will be “driving his message with both in-person and virtual events on court days,” the campaign official said. The Trump campaign also maintains that it will still be able to maximize the time he isn’t tethered to the courtroom, highlighting the former president’s reach on social media and suggesting that Trump will hold events in the New York area.
However, this coming week, Trump will sit through jury selection on Monday and Tuesday, with nothing on his schedule Wednesday, before he’s back in the courtroom Thursday. His next scheduled campaign appearance after jury selection starts is on April 20, when he is expected to go to North Carolina for a campaign event and fundraiser.
Trump has also previously hinted at a potential New York campaign rally, suggesting in an interview with Fox News in February that he could hold such an event in the South Bronx or Madison Square Garden. Trump has said a few times that his campaign was going to “give New York a heavy shot” despite the state being a Democratic stronghold he lost to Joe Biden by 23 points in 2020.
Despite his public optimism, the political history of the state, and particularly New York City, has led Trump to express both publicly and privately that he cannot get a fair jury in New York — a theory that will be put to the test over the next few weeks as his lawyers grill hundreds of prospective jurors to ultimately hear the first criminal trial of a former US president.
One source close to Trump argued that there is worry that some prospective jurors may have ulterior motives for wanting to be involved in the former president’s trial. “Some may want a book deal or the clout that comes with being associated with this,” the source said.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a CNN legal analyst and former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said Trump’s attorneys will be looking for jurors who are sympathetic to the former president, of course – but also for people who’d appear to be “independent” thinkers, willing to stand alone and let a jury hang. A unanimous verdict is required for conviction.
“If you’re Trump, you’d love an acquittal, but if you can’t get an acquittal, you’d want them to hang, because then there’s no conviction before the election,” Agnifilo said. “You’d want somebody who’s strong enough to be a holdout and somebody who is an independent thinker, who is not going to go along with the group.”