The Secret Files Affair: That’s Donald Trump’s Body Language

On the outside, he’s Donald Trump as we know him: loud, accusatory, guilty of no crime. In Courtroom But where cameras and electronic devices were not allowed, the 77-year-old remained silent, looking grim and with his arms crossed, those present unanimously said.

With slumped shoulders and pursed lips, his face stooped with no emotion, Donald Trump must have exuded pure displeasure during the nearly 50-minute court hearing.

“This is Trump when he wants to be somewhere else. When he’s not in control, when he wants to tell the outside world that he shouldn’t be here,” Ty Cobb, a former White House adviser on Trump’s tenure, told CNN.

Loss of control as a defendant

And: “He’s trying to dominate the dynamic by simply being angry.” Through his expression and his body language, Trump wants to demonstrate his power. His appearance at court was “not obvious, but purposeful.”

Trump’s body language in the courtroom indicated he understood the gravity of the situation, and the New York Times wrote in the room: “The former president, concerned about being in control, seemed uncomfortable when accused of lacking it.”

A humiliating bail deal?

In the hall, Trump met his opponent for the first time: Jack Smith is a special consultant, who brought this charge to him with real consequences on civil rights grounds. He was sitting twenty feet away.

Special counsel Smith saw, according to the New York Times, “as three Justice Department attorneys, under his supervision, offered Mr. Trump a bail deal to release him on his own recognizance and without bail, which was respectful and accommodating, but deeply. Disgraceful.”

“If it’s only half right, it’s toast”

After about forty-five minutes, Trump began to rub and fold his hands impatiently. Reporters watching the scene joked that Trump might be hungry and wanted to celebrate his 77th birthday quietly on Wednesday.

Fact: After the court date, Trump’s black motorcade stopped at a Cuban restaurant. “Food for everybody,” Trump told reporters after a call there: “I think it’s going well.”

Given the burden of proof in the matter surrounding the stolen confidential files, many did not see it that way. William Barr, Trump’s party colleague and former attorney general, put it this way: “If only half of the allegations were true, he would be toast.”

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