by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
LITERARY SDNY, Jan 16 – The night before the second Carroll - Trump trial it was colder in Iowa than in New York.
Still, the first snow in 700 days drifted down on Worth Street in front of the courthouse, where the NYPD barricades had already been set up. The circus was about to begin. And Kurt Wheelock began to get ready.
Well before the 9:30 am kickoff Trump was at the defense table, whispering with Alina Habba all dressed in white. There was a third lawyer, not in the docket, and Judge Kaplan would soon shut him down.
But for now it was a stand-off: E. Jean Carroll with Robbie Kaplan at the front table, E. Jean staring straight ahead, and Trump in his red tie two table behind, looking at the prospective jurors when they came in.
The voir dire was proceeding routinely until Judge Kaplan asked, Does anyone here think the 2020 election was stolen? Yes, said Juror Number 48. Yes, said Juror Number 49, soon to answer Judge Kaplan's question about being COVID vaccinated with No, she was not.
Online some said, What about HIPPA?
In the courtroom Habba said, Sometimes the Internet can be mean. But what would it mean, this second trial on damages, shoehorned in between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary? Kurt tried to tweet out every word. He put a link on Threads, only to be told, Some of us here will never go back to that hell site.
This was America 2024: separate worlds, two views of the very same thing. And Kurt tried to serve it up, what was actually said.
Last time he'd gone up to Bergdorf Goodman, up to the sixth floor under the eyes of the guards. This, where? Frozen New Hampshire? Judge Engoran's courtroom one block west? South to E. Jean Prettyman by the DC Mall, or further down to Georgia or Florida?
The Trump Trials were proliferating and beginning to blot out all others. And Kurt was on the case(s)
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