Trump shows little emotion during hearing, then says he ‘did nothing wrong’

The small courtroom was already packed when former President Donald J. Trump slowly walked inside.

“Where should I sit?” Trump asked the lawyers who arrived with him shortly before a three-judge panel heard arguments on his claims that he is immune from criminal prosecution in a case over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

After showing little emotion during the hearing, which lasted about an hour and 15 minutes, Mr. Trump suggested that the special counsel’s office had been forced to concede two key points, though he provided few details about what those issues were.

Speaking to reporters at the Waldorf Astoria hotel – once owned by Trump – the former president said it was unfair that he was prosecuted by the Justice Department, claiming the prosecution was politically motivated. He spoke about the final polls for the 2024 presidential election and again emphasized that there was “massive voter fraud” in the 2020 election won by President Biden.

“I think as president you should have immunity, very simple,” Trump said. He added: “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

Mr. Trump had arrived at the court with an entourage of lawyers and Walt Nauta, his longtime personal assistant and co-defendant in the other federal case against Mr. Trump, over his handling of classified documents after he left office.

The special counsel who brought both cases, Jack Smith, and the prosecution team arrived well before Mr. Trump. Mr Smith – whom Mr Trump has called a “deranged psychopath” – watched the arguments from a chair about twenty feet away from the former president.

During the hearing, Mr. Trump appeared largely emotionless. He relaxed his posture slightly when Judge Karen L. Henderson, who was appointed by President George HW Bush, began asking questions. (The other two justices were appointed by Mr. Biden.)

As the panel questioned James Pearce, who argued the special counsel’s case on Tuesday, Trump exchanged notes with his lawyers. When Mr. Trump’s lawyer, John Sauer, answered a second set of questions from the panel, Mr. Trump nodded twice in agreement — including when the lawyer hinted at a political motivation for the prosecution and suggested a dark path for the country should the business forward.

“We are in a situation where we are dealing with the prosecution of the main political opponent who wins the federal election in every poll next year and is being persecuted by the government he is trying to replace,” Mr Sauer said. “That is the terrifying future tailor-made to launch cycles of accusations that will rock our Republic for the future.”

At the end of the hearing, Mr. Trump stood as the judges left the courtroom and then briefly looked back at the reporters and audience before slowly walking out of the courtroom the same way he had entered.