Trump Stays Calm in Court. His Emails Tell a Different Story.

At the end of a tense court day in his criminal trial in Manhattan, former President Donald J. Trump on Thursday sent an email to his followers with a dramatic subject line: “I stormed out of court!”

The reality was far more muted.

When the day ended, Mr. Trump calmly left the courtroom, as is typical of many criminal defendants. He strode toward reporters and a camera stationed in the hallway and gave a minute-long statement attacking the case, the judge and the proceedings. Then he exited the building and went home.

Still, in his message to followers, Mr. Trump depicted himself as a firebrand who angrily fled the proceedings over perceived injustice. “I’m DONE with the election interference,” he wrote. “Joe Biden & the LIARS in the media can spread LIES LIES LIES — all while I’m stuck in court and GAGGED!”

Such exaggerated portrayals have become typical for Mr. Trump and his presidential campaign in the weeks since the start of the trial in which he is accused of falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment to a former porn star.

As Mr. Trump sits in New York for the first criminal trial of a former president, he and his campaign have sent a blitz of emails and text messages to his supporters that depict a highly dramatized account of his actions inside the courtroom, where proceedings are far more prosaic than he describes.

The Trump campaign’s emails often contain kernels of truth. The former president is, for example, under a gag order that keeps him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others.