Donald Trump left his Manhattan home on Monday morning and headed to court to hear opening statements in the historic hush money trial after tearing into pro-Palestinian protesters.
The former president could also be confronted with the prosecutors’ first witness, former National Enquirer publisher and friend David Pecker.
The 77-year-old waved and raised his fist to photographers and onlookers as he walked across the sidewalk from Trump Tower and got into his waiting SUV.
On Monday morning he took to Truth Social to post ‘witch hunt’ and ‘election interference’ to slam the Stormy Daniels case he says is a political prosecution.
He also asked why pro-Palestinian demonstrators were allowed to ‘roam cities’ and ‘block traffic’ while his supporters weren’t allowed to protest outside court.
He issued a rallying cry to his MAGA faithful and told them to march ‘across the country’.
It was revealed over the weekend in a New York Times report that Pecker would be the first witness called against the ex-president during his historic trial in Manhattan over allegations he participated in a hush money scheme ahead of the 2016 election.
‘Pecker could be key witness – in ways more devastating than Michael Cohen .This also indicates DA is foregrounding unlawful election influence for jurors,’ Professor Ron Goodman tweeted.
‘Pecker’s testimony should be strong proof of core allegation that the hush money scheme was geared toward influencing the outcome of the presidential election,’ he added.
A 12-person jury in Manhattan is set to hear opening statements from prosecutors and defense lawyers in the first of four criminal cases against the presumptive Republican nominee to reach trial.