Trump: Ordinary Citizen and Felon

And what would Jimmy Carter do?

Trump and his lawyers. One of my live-drawings from the Manhattan hush-money trial presided over by Judge Merchan. I was in the spill-over journalist room down the hall from the courtroom where Trump sat, and I drew this from a large monitor

“Donald Trump the ordinary citizen, Donald Trump the criminal defendant” was sentenced today by Judge Juan Merchan. The judge calmly said that there was nothing special about the defendant in the case, he was just one of many whom he sentenced in that courtoom last year. This probably infurated Trump, who is wont to be special at all times. He appeared remotely in court today with his lawyer and spent a good deal of time accusing the court and the system of bias and corruption, and claimed that winning the election (by a landslide, he thinks) was evidence that the people believed he was innocent. He repeated how “very unfairly” he had been treated and what a disgrace it all was to New York.

Merchan ruled that Trump was not afforded protection from the recent ruling by the Supreme Court over Presidential Immunity because this case was about Trump as a citizen. It had nothing to do with his former presidential duties. Here is a portion of Judge Merchan’s remarks.