Trump in 'horrible mood' as hush money trial leaves him too 'livid' to fundraise: reporter
Former President Donald Trump has only been on trial for two weeks but one reporter says that it's put him in such a sour state that it's hurting his ability to fundraise.
"He's in a horrible mood and it's hard for him to sort of do donor events afterwards or talk strategy after the sessions in court because he's just so livid," said Washington Post investigative reporter Carol Leonnig during an appearance on MSNBC's "The Eleventh Hour" with Stephanie Ruhle.
Leonnig pointed to a story from her WaPo colleagues describing effects of being stuck in a stuffy court as being "disruptive to his campaign" and that his mood is intensely worsening, according top sources.
"The former president is accustomed to near-daily rounds of golf, 'constant stimulation' and cheers when he enters and exits a room at Mar-a-Lago," according to the sources. "Instead, he is now reporting four days a week for mundane court arguments and long stretches without permission to check his phone."
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Leonnig piggybacked off that description with her own reporting that he's not accustomed to being told how to conduct himself now or ever.
"Donald Trump hates it," she said. "Absolutely hates it. This is a person who, when he was the president, in his first days in office, was able to basically blow through the norms of how a president normally operates every morning."
She described Trump skipping intelligence briefs to spend hours in the White House residence in the mornings and ring all his pals to find out how he was "doing politically" and "what they think about what [he] said on television the other day."
She describes Trump as a so self-absorbed that he tried to autopilot some of the "big responsibilities of being president to work on the political machinations of amping up his popularity."
That's why it's been so striking for the 45th president to sit and try to stay awake in a frigid courtroom where Leonnig notes "he cannot speak or he's not supposed to speak."
The former president is accused in a 34-count indictment of falsifying business records to hide from the public six-figure payments weeks before the election to adult actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy playmate Karen McDougal who allege they engaged in a sexual affair with him.
Trump has denied the affairs and pleaded not guilty.
Leonnig said she sees Trump "not only constrained to this room and constrained to these rules" but "not able to speak up the way he's so used to doing, and getting flattered every time he does."
She added that the totality of this trial is "sort of sucking the energy out of him every day."