We Can Learn a Lot From the Weird Crew That Keeps Showing Up to Trump’s Trial

Read our ongoing coverage of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial here. On the way out of the courtroom that day, Trump nemesis George Conway—the estranged spouse of Trump adviser and possible witness Kellyanne Conway—kept repeating, “You can’t make this shit up.” Conway had been seated right in front of me, so I think I saw what he was referring to: At one point, as Trump was exiting court, Trump and Conway had stared each other down. The elder Trump, for his part, had his eyes closed for much of the morning and afternoon, including during the more interesting Davidson testimony—ironic, given that Eric had, the day before, bragged about his dad’s “stamina.” It was difficult to see Eric’s face from my vantage point, but he was apparently attentive throughout much of the day’s testimony. Prosecutors tried to get into evidence a text National Enquirer editor and unindicted Trump co-conspirator Dylan Howard sent as Trump edged toward victory on Election Day 2016: “At least, if he wins, I’ll be pardoned for electoral fraud.” Jurors will never see this text because Howard is in Australia with a “medical issue” and Justice Juan Merchan ruled that because Trump’s defense team can’t confront Howard about the text, it would be unfair to show it to the jury. Related From Slate The Rule of Law Finally Comes for Donald Trump Exiting the courtroom after proceedings ended, I found myself in an elevator with Conway, CNN’s Collins, retired New York Judge George Grasso, and a member of the public, an older gentleman who had waited in line since 5 a.m. to get his seat in the courtroom.