Since a grand jury issued charges related to hush money to an adult film star, the former president has cycled through a range of emotions and postures.
Hours after a Manhattan grand jury voted Thursday afternoon to indict Donald Trump, the former president joined with his wife, Melania, his in-laws and conservative radio host Mark Levin on the patio of his private Mar-a-Lago Club for a preplanned dinner. Advisers to his 2024 presidential bid sat nearby, and Trump chatted with both groups, as well as club members offering their encouragement.
At one point, Trump showed off his soon-to-be-released book of letters between himself and celebrities and world leaders. At another, he began calling congressional Republicans, promising to fight the indictment and relishing their declarations of support.
Yet in the immediate aftermath of the grand jury’s decision related to hush money paid to an adult-film star, Trump was not happy, said one person with direct knowledge of his reaction. Others described Trump as “upset,” “irritated,” “deflated” and “shocked,” though some noted that he also remained “very calm” and “rather stoic, actually.”
Trump — who played golf at his Palm Beach estate Friday, with plans to play again over the weekend — is expected to fly to New York on midday Monday. He will spend the night at his Trump Tower home before surrendering himself in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday.
“He’ll do Trump,” said David Urban, a longtime Trump adviser who is not working on his 2024 campaign. “He’ll show up. He’ll be indignant.”
The playbook Trump executed in the immediate aftermath of an unprecedented moment in American history — the first ex-president, ever, charged with a crime — is one that, for him at least, has become almost routine. Since first positing — incorrectly — on his social media platform almost exactly two weeks ago that he would be arrested in a few days, Trump has cycled through a range of emotions and postures, both public and private.
He has been angry and even threatening, attacking Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on his Truth Social site and warning of “potential death & destruction” if he was charged. He has been both resigned to and disbelieving of a potential indictment, at points behaving as if he could single-handedly disappear the ongoing investigation through some combination of magical thinking and public pressure.
And he has become, eventually, defiant — portraying himself as a hunted victim and leveraging the controversy as a political weapon.
Trump — a former reality TV host who is seeking to win a second term in the White House in 2024 — has already begun privately musing about the indelible images that will likely emerge from his day in court Tuesday, talking about everything from his mug shot to possible perp walk and how he can use the moment to convey defiance.
This portrait of Trump facing down a historic indictment is the result of interviews with 15 Trump advisers, lawyers, confidants and other officials, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly share details of private conversations.
“He initially was shocked,” said Joe Tacopina, a Trump lawyer, on NBC’s “The Today Show” Friday.
