The 17 most incredible lines from Donald Trump's post-trial statement Monday
Whoa boy.
Donald Trump is angry.
He’s forced to trek to the 15th floor of a Manhattan courtroom four out of the five days of the week.
He has to sit there quietly while lawyers make the case that he purposely falsified business records to cover up a payment to a porn star who he allegedly had sex with it.
It’s freezing in the room — at least according to Trump.
And, this weekend, he had to cancel a big rally in North Carolina due to severe weather.
Given ALL of that, I am paying very close attention to when Trump DOES speak publicly because it’s a terrific window into his state of mind and how he is viewing both the hush money trial and his broader campaign for president.
On Monday afternoon, after the trial wrapped for the day, Trump, as has become his custom, stopped to give a rant monologue statement to the assembled reporters.
He went on longer than usual. Probably because he is pent up and pissed. Regardless of the “why,” I thought it was worth going through the transcript of what he said. Because what he says matters — in this trial and in the campaign to come.
Below is my line by line breakdown.
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“You heard it yourself, this is a case nobody wanted to bring.”
I mean, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg did bring the case so SOMEONE wanted to bring it… And away we go!
“It is a case as to bookkeeping which is a very minor thing in terms of all the crime going on outside as we speak, right outside as we speak.”
Trump is trying to minimize the case — “bookkeeping” — although the charges are about him falsifying records as a means to win a presidential election, which is not a minor thing. Also, not for nothing: Crime is down across the board in New York City.
“This is a case where you pay a lawyer and they call it a legal expense.”
Just to be clear: What is alleged is that Trump directed his then-fixer Michael Cohen to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels. Daniels was shopping around a story that she and Trump had had sex in the mid 2000s and Trump was worried about the story hurting his 2016 presidential bid. The allegation is that Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 and then Trump repaid Cohen under the auspices of “legal expenses.”
“Another thing that was not even said is they never deducted it as a tax deduction. Most people want to deduct everything.”
I certainly want to deduct everything!
“They call a payment to a lawyer a legal expense in the books. They called it a payment to a lawyer. He is a lawyer.”
So, are you saying Cohen is a lawyer? I am not totally getting it…
“Represented a lot of people over the years. I am not the only one. Was not very good in a lot of ways in terms of his representation pretty represented a lot of people.”
This is amazing. Trump is saying that Cohen was a lawyer for lots of people over the years — including him. And that Cohen was not a very good lawyer. So, why did he hire him — and keep paying him hundreds of thousands of dollars???
“He puts in an invoice or whatever, a bill, and they pay it. They call it a legal expense.”
What Trump is arguing here is that Cohen simply billed him for “legal expenses” and he paid it. Period. That he had no idea that it was seen by Cohen as a reimbursement for anything. Cohen, for what it’s worth, has testified before Congress (and under oath) that Trump was totally aware of the plan to pay off Daniels.
“When a lawyer puts in a bill or invoice and you pay the bill and there is a very small little line.”
Ah yes, a “small little line.” Sure.
“I am beating Biden.”
Fact check: Not true. According to the latest Real Clear Politics polling average, Trump is at 44.6% and Biden is a 44.4%, which is a statistical dead heat. It would have been more accurate for Trump to say “I was beating Biden.”
“I am leading the Republicans.”
Well, the Republican primary has been over for almost two months now….but, sure, you are leading the Republicans.
“The thing he got in trouble for were things that had nothing to do with me. He went to jail. This had nothing to do with me…this had to do with the company he owned which is something he owned.”
“Michael Cohen ends prison term after Trump-related crimes.” — Associated Press
Also, the company Cohen owned is “something he owned.” Just to clarify.
“This takes me off the campaign trail. I should be in Georgia now. I should be in a lot of different places right now campaigning.”
For what it’s worth, even before this trial began, Trump was keeping a very light campaign schedule. This, from CNN in mid-March, captures how Trump has approached campaigning since Super Tuesday:
Donald Trump has held one rally in a battleground state in those two and a half weeks, and shifted another to Ohio, in part to save on costs. He has also played in two golf tournaments at his Palm Beach golf club, among other activities at his club, like lunches with potential campaign donors that aides feel are about to start paying off big.
“This will go on for a long time.”
The trial is supposed to last 6(ish) weeks. Although legal experts say Judge Juan Merchan is very focused on moving things along quickly. (Jury selection took a single week when many people expected it to take two.)
“People say they cannot believe it.”
Many people, with tears in their eyes, told Trump: “Sir, I cannot believe they are doing this to you.”
“It is all coming out of the White House, by the way.”
Trump is trying to paint his panoply of legal problems as being orchestrated by President Joe Biden. There is, of course, no evidence of that fact. Trump also regularly says that Biden doesn’t know where he is and doesn’t know he is alive. And yet, he is somehow able to engineer a massive, multi-state, multi-jurisdictional legal assault on Trump!
“They are moving out of New York because they will be put out of business.”
Who is this “they”?
“This is a witch hunt to keep me off the campaign trail.”
Again, he wasn’t on the campaign trail much before the, er, witch hunt trial started. Yeah, this feels like a good place to end.
Ironic that his NC event was cancelled over STORMY weather.
(with tears in my eyes) Sir, you are doing a wonderful job with these Substack posts