Journalist Says He Saw Trump Editing Speeches For His Stooges To Give Outside Court

New York Magazine journalist Andrew Rice said on MSNBC that on Monday he saw Donald Trump editing — as proceedings were ongoing during his hush money trial — what his Republican allies would later rant about on his behalf outside the courthouse.

Trump acolytes including Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum ® have this week attended the New York court in a show of support for the former president and presumptive GOP nominee. They’ve also taken to parroting Trump’s complaints about the criminal proceedings outside. Both Vance and Burgum are reportedly in the running to become Trump’s running mate.

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said he found it “both thuggish and pathetic” how Trump appears, via his stooges, to be trying to circumvent his gag order which bans him from talking about witnesses, jurors, court staff and their families.

Rice recalled: “I could actually look over Trump’s shoulder and see what he was reading, at one point he was actually reading the quotes that these individuals were … and going through and making notations with a pen on the paper.”

It was during former Trump fixer and attorney Michael Cohen’s testimony, he said. Trump “was actually going and going through and annotating and editing the quotes that these people were giving.”

MSNBC’s Alex Wagner questioned the legality of the “utterly humiliating” move and noted how part of the gag order also prohibits Trump from directing others to say the same things he is not allowed to.

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