Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
Two weeks into Donald Trump’s bank fraud trial in New York, it’s clear that the former president has no intention of actually trying to win the legal battle at this stage.
Instead, Trump’s legal team is working diligently to repurpose the trial as pretext for a future appeal—not to mention warping the proceedings into both a fundraising spectacle and an excuse to skip out on his other court dates.
For nine straight days, Trump’s defense lawyers have littered the court with legal landmines, objecting to nearly every bit of evidence submitted by New York Attorney General Letitia James and warning New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur F. Engoron that each decision he makes will be closely scrutinized by appellate judges—and likely reversed.