The two candidates for the highest office in the USA currently have very different schedules. Roughly speaking, Joe Biden is doing the election campaign and world politics, while Donald Trump is in court in connection with allegedly concealed hush money for a porn star. The defendant has an exceptional day off on Wednesday and the New York court is taking a short break. But Tuesday was another day when the rivals’ programs were very different.
The current president flew from the White House with the presidential helicopter Marine One to Andrews Joint Airbase, boarded the presidential aircraft Air Force One and flew on to Florida, which Trump actually considers his territory, even if his ousted short-term challenger Ron DeSantis governs the state. Biden appeared down there in Tampa, beautiful weather, almost 30 degrees.
“We’re locked in a courtroom,” Trump complains
“Before I start, I would like to say something to the children here,” the 81-year-old Democrat began. “Your mother and father owe you a lot for being here.” Helpers handed the patiently waiting children in the audience five dollars to buy ice cream. The remainder of the lecture discussed, among other things, world politics. And Trump.
“If the United States were to withdraw from the world stage, as Trump wants, who would lead the world?” Biden asked. It was Tuesday, and in the evening the Senate would also pass the aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Gaza, as well as Taiwan and others, worth more than $95 billion. It is considered vital, especially for Kiev, and also Biden’s success. Trump had blocked the bill for a long time.
Meanwhile, the former president had to endure further hours of what was for him a terrible ordeal in the negotiating room in Manhattan. “He,” Trump said afterwards, i.e. Biden, “is campaigning, and I’m here in the courtroom, sitting as upright as possible all day long.” He says: “It’s a very unfair situation. We’re locked in a courtroom and this guy is out there campaigning, if you can call it campaigning.”
Among other things, it’s about the concealed payment to Stormy Daniels
On top of that, it is “freezing” in there. Trump would clearly rather be in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. In addition, he didn’t have any fans in sight, and there were said to be too few battlegoers gathered in front of the building for his liking. With Biden, on the other hand, sympathizers shouted “four more years,” which Trump wants to prevent. Biden also reported that he is now doing better in polls, which Trump doubts. Worse still for Trump: He should or may say next to nothing.
If the chatterbox makes derogatory comments about witnesses or the judiciary, he could face fines. Theoretically, Trump could even be imprisoned if he violates the “gag order” of the judge Juan Merchan, whom he hates. According to the prosecution, he did this “intentionally and blatantly”. The requirement in no way prevented him from describing the main prosecution witness Michael Cohen, his former lawyer, as a “convicted liar” who had “no credibility at all” in an interview.
The first witness since the beginning of the week has been David Pecker, former publisher of the magazine National Enquirer, who was also Trump’s confidant during this time. He stated that in his empire of tabloids, every effort was made to remove possible stories from the market that could have damaged the then presidential candidate. This procedure is called “catch and kill”. It was strictly confidential; he described himself as Trump’s “eyes and ears.”
Two of the cleared stories were about an alleged relationship with a Playboy model and the sex actress Stormy Daniels, incidentally during the pregnancy and after the birth of Trump’s wife. He is charged with 34 counts of falsifying financial reports to hide a payment to Daniels. She, who could still testify, admitted to a sexual encounter, but Trump denies it.
He now complains on his private network Truth Social about “this New York cabal run by the corrupt Joe Biden’s White House.” They are carrying out “an attack on a political opponent the likes of which the USA has never seen before. For the good of our country, this must be stopped. The witch hunt of the corrupt Joe Biden must be ended. The Republicans in Washington must take action!” The US President and Democratic presidential candidate Biden gave a speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Wednesday.