'Shrunken' Trump looks as if the 'reality of the trial' has hit him: legal expert

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 15: Former U.S. President Donald Trump appears ahead of the start of jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 15, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jeenah Moon-Pool/Getty Images)

MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski showed Donald Trump as he entered the New York courthouse on Monday for jury selection in his hush money election interference and fraud trial.

After Trump spoke inside the courthouse, the "Morning Joe" host noted he was "making a few lies there" — particularly as he repeated his claims that the case has no merit and it's a political witch hunt orchestrated by President Joe Biden.

"The first one is that every legal scholar thinks this is unfair. That is definitely not true," said Brzezinski. "And also, this is a case that has nothing to do with Joe Biden. This is a criminal case in a Manhattan court. It has to do with a hush money payment to a porn star that might ultimately be election interference because they were using fraudulent ways to get the money to her."

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Prosecutors claim the payment happened as Trump was running for office in 2016, and feared details of the alleged affair would turn off voters.

"This is historic, obviously, salacious, of course, because of the porn star hush money and other testimony we'll hear from other women who had what they will say were sexual experiences with Donald Trump, triggering for him, embarrassing for him given his personal situation," Brzezinski continued.

However, it was legal analyst Joyce Vance who explained that the gravity of the situation seemed to have finally caught up with the former president.

"Today, we start with jury selection," Vance explained. "It's not always the most interesting part of the trial, but you can see Trump's demeanor as he approached the courtroom today. He looks a little bit shrunken in on himself.

"The reality of a trial often doesn't hit the defendant until they get to the courtroom and have to look at the people who will sit in judgment of him. I've seen this happen with defendants before, who talk tough until they actually have to look at the people who will sit in judgment against them."

She went on to explain that the jury will take an oath to be fair and deliver a verdict based on the evidence.

"That's Donald Trump's worst nightmare," she said.

Watch the exchange below or at the link here.

'Shrunken' Trump looks as if the 'reality of the trial' has hit him: legal expert youtu.be

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