Former President Donald Trump was back inside a New York City courtroom on Thursday as a judge ruled that his trial on charges of making hush money payments to an adult film star will begin on March 25.
“How can you run for election and be sitting in a courthouse in Manhattan all day long? I’m supposed to be in South Carolina right now,” Trump said before entering the hearing, alluding to the Palmetto State's upcoming GOP primary.
Inside, his legal team tried – and failed – to get the case delayed or dismissed.
It was actually Trump’s choice to be in the courtroom Thursday, but his attendance will be mandatory once the case moves forward, making him the first former president to face charges.
“I’ll be here during the day and I’ll be campaigning during the night,” he told reporters after the hearing.
Political analysts say it’s an unprecedented balancing act that Trump has been using for political advantage.
“Donald Trump is crying crocodile tears. He loves this. He loves the attention,” said Todd Belt, a political science professor at George Washington University. “He loves the fact that in the morning he can be in the courtroom and getting the attention, and then in the evening he can do his super rallies and get the attention. This really plays right into his hands, at least for now, during the primaries.”
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is Trump’s last remaining Republican opponent. She’s hoping to upset him in her home state, where she served two terms as governor. South Carolina holds its primary on Feb. 24.
“He's not qualified to be the President of the United States,” Haley said at a campaign stop on Monday, bashing Trump for mocking the absence of her husband, Michael, who is deployed to Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard.
“Where’s her husband? Oh, he’s away. He’s away,” Trump said at an event last weekend. “What happened to her husband? Where is he? He’s gone.”
Haley, who has called Trump's remarks "disgusting" and "unbecoming of a president," has zeroed-in on his comments about veterans, making it a focus of her campaign as of late. She told NBC News in an interview that military families can't trust the former president to "keep them out of harm's way."
“If you don’t know the value of our men and women in uniform, if you don’t know the sacrifice that they go through, why should I — as a military spouse and all our military families — trust you to know that you’re going to keep them out of harm’s way?" Haley told NBC's Craig Melvin this week.
A pro-Haley Super PAC also released an ad this week accusing Trump of being "sick" and "clueless" for his comments related to veterans.
Trump, for his part, said at a rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday that Haley will never be his running mate, to cheers from the crowd.
"You’re never going to have her, and I don’t think anybody is very devastated," Trump said.
South Carolina state senator Wes Climer, who is backing Haley, said her home state is ready to boost her in the race for president.
“People of South Carolina remember fondly Nikki’s time as governor, and in contrast with the incoherence and chaos that President Trump demonstrates every time he goes off the teleprompter, I think the closing week of this campaign really bodes well for Nikki Haley,” Climer told Spectrum News.
Climer argued Haley is better positioned to beat President Joe Biden in the general election.
But Belt says that Haley faces an uphill climb to the nomination, especially after losing to Trump in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
“Not only is she trailing by between 30 and 35 points to Donald Trump, who is more popular in her home state than she is, the endorsements from people that she’s been close to in her state have gone to Donald Trump and not to her,” Belt said. “If she gets blown out, as many people expect, this could be the end of her campaign.”
A polling average from FiveThirtyEight puts Trump at 66.1% support in South Carolina, with Haley trailing far behind at 30.3%.