‘Trial within a trial’: Trump’s strategy on verge of imploding

The ex-president faces two trials that will set the tone for the messy ones ahead: his New York fraud trial, and an unofficial trial in the court of public opinion

In a scene that could have been pulled from a Hollywood courtroom thriller, Donald Trump was called to the witness box last week and accused of threatening a clerk of the court.

The former president had already been fined for attacking the judge's clerk. Now he had done it again and the usually jocular Judge Arthur Engoron angrily threatened to lock Trump up. Why should there not be severe sanctions for this blatant, dangerous disobeyal of a clear court order?" asked Engoron.