NEW YORK — The wheels of justice finally began to turn on Monday in the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.

But as with almost everything else in the legal and political world of Donald Trump — the former president-turned-criminal defendant — this turning of justice wheels on the 15th floor of the New York State Supreme Court building in lower Manhattan was complicated.

It was also slow — very slow.

And for Trump, it was unusually loud — then suddenly quiet.

As he walked to the courtroom, Trump stopped and told a gaggle of reporters that “nothing like this has ever happened before,” adding that “it’s an assault on America, an assault on our country, a country that’s failing.”

The statement was standard for Trump and echoed other brash claims he made in recent months as his legal problems mounted.

Inside the courtroom, however, Trump spoke only three words out loud. He said “yes” three times to a series of questions from Judge Juan Merchan, who reminded Trump that he could assist his lawyers in his defense, but only if he behaved himself.

“If you disrupt the proceedings in any way, the court has the right to exclude you from the courtroom,” Merchan said.

Trump nodded and quietly said, “Yes.”

Merchan later chided Trump’s lawyers after they asked for a delay to assemble evidence.

“Here’s where we stand: You have 24 hours,” a seemingly exasperated Merchan said.

The judge then added that defense attorneys had “been very busy filing motions,” some of which duplicated previous ones and seemed part of what some legal critics say is a delaying tactic by Trump.

“You’ve made decisions on how you’re going to use your time,” Merchan said, cutting off the argument.

For the most part, though, Merchan kept his temper in check, often speaking in a soft voice. Even when he told prosecutors and defense attorneys that they could not photocopy lists of names of jurors, Merchan seemed more a matter-of-fact adviser than a judge.

The loud and quiet episodes on Monday with Trump underscored in some ways how strange the moment has become. At one point, the 77-year-old seemed to nod off, his head sinking forward, then snapping up when his attorney handed him a piece of paper.

As the proceedings were about to end, his defense team asked Merchan to give Trump permission to skip next Thursday's trial session in New York City to attend oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Trump's claim of presidential immunity........

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