Read our ongoing coverage of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial here.

On Monday, People of New York v. Trump got underway in lower Manhattan. The substance of the day so far has been relatively routine—a final set of arguments over preliminary evidentiary motions and the start of jury selection. These last-second legal wranglings didn’t produce any major results, and still, signs were everywhere that the gravity of the situation is finally starting to hit former President Donald Trump, who is charged with 34 felony counts of filing false business records over his reimbursement of former fixer Michael Cohen in the Stormy Daniels hush money affair.

Still, even as he solemnly nodded his head to the judge’s questions about his understanding of the sanctions he might face—including going to jail—should he violate courtroom decorum or fail to show up in court during the pendency of the trial, he was already managing to simultaneously get himself in trouble. This was thanks to his Truth Social posts attacking witnesses in the case, one of which Trump seems to have sent out from the courthouse itself.

The combativeness that was on full display in his social media posts and campaign fundraising emails was not what we saw from Trump in the courtroom, though. He started the day chatting with his attorney Todd Blanche, and repeatedly offered pool reporters a thumbs-up as he walked in and out of the courtroom. Then, he passively watched the hourslong morning sparring over what matters District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office will be able to present to the jury as they try to make Donald Trump the first former president to be convicted of a felony in U.S. history.

Was he so passive that he actually fell asleep, as the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman reported earlier today? If he did nod off, I missed it from my seat in the overflow courtroom—where almost all of the media will be watching from during the pendency of jury selection. As Haberman noted while also watching from the overflow room, Trump’s head was slumping throughout the morning session. Another pool reporter suggested that........

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