Trump will go from the trial to the trail and back again

Donald Trump will make his most concentrated effort yet to turn his criminal trial into a political asset in the next two days, heading from the courtroom to the campaign trail and back again.

The former president’s hush money trial resumes in New York on Tuesday as prosecutors seek to prove that Trump falsified business records to cover up an alleged affair and thereby interfered in the 2016 election by misleading voters. They’ve been unwilling to reveal witnesses in advance in order to shield them from Trump’s attacks. But they are expected to press on with questioning a former banker for Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer who made hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels, who alleged the affair that Trump denies. Trump has pleaded not guilty in the case.

With court dark on Wednesday, the presumptive GOP nominee will fly to the epicenter of his clash with President Joe Biden, making stops in two swing states, Wisconsin and Michigan, that could decide the destiny of the White House. The trip will show how useful it is for an indicted candidate to have his own plane. But more significantly, this will be Trump’s most intense campaign travel in weeks, and he is sure to dig in on his false claims that his four indictments were directly instigated by the White House.