Trump’s first day on criminal trial: Bored as hell and blaming his enemies

When he entered a Manhattan courthouse for the first day of his first criminal trial, Donald Trump’s Truth Social account fired off more than a dozen posts slamming the case and attacking the witnesses expected to testify against him.

He staged an impromptu press conference in the hallway outside the doors of the courtroom, turning to a group of cameras to blast the proceedings as “an assault on America”. When he left for the day, he called it a “political witch hunt”.

Inside, beforeThe People of New York v Donald J Trump got under way, he sat by himself for a moment, clasped his fingers together, and stared at the empty bench before him. He would later slouch down in the red chair at the defence table beside his attorneys, with the shoulders of his navy suit jacket bunched around him as he appeared to doze off.

Even as the judge was reading instructions to the group of men and women who could decide whether he’s running for office as a convicted felon, Mr Trump appeared to nod off, prompting a wave of “Sleepy Don” and “Don Snorleone” memes on social media.

Moments later, more than half of those prospective jurors were excused from the case after telling the judge that they could not deliver a fair and impartial verdict against the former president.

Mr Trump is facing 34 felony charges of falsifying business records in connection to an alleged “hush money” scheme to bury compromising stories of his alleged affairs. Prosecutors have argued that the case is one involving an election interference plot to deceive voters in the weeks before the 2016 presidential election.

His then-attorney Michael Cohen paid adult film star Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged affair, according to prosecutors. Mr Trump then