Trump has spent most of his court-free days without public campaign events
By Daniel Dale and Kristen Holmes, CNN
Washington (CNN) — Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that his criminal trial in Manhattan has prevented him from campaigning in key swing states.
“I should be right now in Pennsylvania, in Florida, in many other states, North Carolina, Georgia – campaigning,” Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told reporters outside the courtroom on the second day of the trial in April. He made similar comments in the courthouse hallway on subsequent days, saying that, if not for the trial he baselessly blamed on President Joe Biden, he was “supposed to be” in Ohio, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
It’s certainly possible that Trump would have been campaigning in all of those states if there was no trial. But a review of his activities over the trial’s first four weeks shows that he has done little campaign travel, and held few public campaign events, on days off from court. Instead, he has spent most of his 12 court-free days out of voters’ view at his properties in New York, New Jersey and Florida.
And he did not use any of those 12 court-free days to visit Pennsylvania, Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio or New Hampshire, states he asserted the trial was preventing him from visiting. (He is scheduled to visit Ohio for a fundraiser on May 15.)
No public events on most free days
Trump’s trial is not in session on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, and the judge also scheduled one Monday off in late April. As of this Saturday, May 11, that left Trump with 12 court-free days to do as he pleased, compared to 15 days where he was required in court, in the 27 days beginning with the opening of jury selection on April 15.
Trump held no public events on seven of the 12 court-free days. And it was no public events on eight of the 12 days if you don’t count his one-minute-long appearance for the cameras prior to a private meeting with the president of Poland at Trump Tower in New York City.
Trump has visited few swing states since the trial began
Trump has done some campaign travel during the trial.
He held campaign rallies in the swing states of Wisconsin and Michigan on one court-free Wednesday in May, and he booked a weekend April rally in the swing state of North Carolina that was called off at the last minute because of severe weather.
(He attended a closed-door fundraiser in the state earlier in the day.) He is scheduled to hold a rally on Saturday afternoon in New Jersey, which has for three decades been a Democratic stronghold in presidential elections, and he appeared in May at a Formula One race in Miami.
Trump also made campaign-style appearances in Democratic-dominated New York City before or after three court appearances. And he has turned the hallway outside the Manhattan courtroom into a de facto campaigning venue, regularly speaking to media cameras before and after sitting in court.
But he has let the majority of the 12 off days pass without doing any public campaign events. Instead, he has spent some of the time golfing at his Bedminster club in New Jersey, attending a Republican National Committee fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Florida, attending a Mar-a-Lago dinner for people who bought large numbers of his “NFT” digital trading cards, and making phone calls and holding meetings.
His complete itinerary on the off days is not known. Here is a list showing how he is known to have spent his time from the opening day of the trial, April 15, until May 11.
April 15: Court
April 16: Court (made appearance at New York City bodega afterward)
April 17: Day off court. No public events, but met with Polish President Andrzej Duda at Trump Tower and appeared on camera for less than a minute
April 18: Court
April 19: Court
April 20: Day off court. Attended fundraiser in North Carolina and planned to speak at a NC rally that was called off due to weather
April 21: Day off court. No public events
April 22: Court
April 23: Court
April 24: Day off court. No public events; golfed at Bedminster
April 25: Court (made appearance at New York City construction site beforehand)
April 26: Court
April 27: Day off court. No public events
April 28: Day off court. No public events
April 29: Day off court. No public events
April 30: Court
May 1: Day off court. Spoke at campaign rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan
May 2: Court (made appearance at New York City fire station afterward)
May 3: Court
May 4: Day off court. No public events; attended Republican National Committee fundraising luncheon at Mar-a-Lago
May 5: Day off court. Appeared at Formula One race in Miami
May 6: Court
May 7: Court
May 8: Day off court. No public events; attended dinner with NFT buyers at Mar-a-Lago
May 9: Court
May 10: Court
May 11: Day off court. Scheduled to hold campaign rally in New Jersey
CNN’s Kate Sullivan contributed to this article.
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