There was quite an array of louche figures both inside and outside the courtroom where Donald Trump has been on trial in lower Manhattan over the past five weeks, and they have both testified about and extravagantly exhibited all sorts of louche behaviour. With closing arguments now underway and the jury expected to be sent off to deliberate, we have a moment to savour some of the overlooked features of this bizarre moment in American political history.

Clockwise from bottom left: Robert De Niro, Stormy Daniels, Donald Trump, David Pecker, Michael Cohen. Credit: Marija Ercegovac

You had Trump himself bellowing in the hallway outside the courtroom, earning himself a gag order from the judge. You had various right-wing poltroons puffing their chests on the street next to the courthouse in colourful displays of obsequiousness, like preening pigeons in the nearby parks. The Biden campaign got into the mix as well, dispatching Robert De Niro and some of the police officers who defended the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection to the courthouse scene to call attention to Trump’s assaults on democracy.

Inside, a tin-hat rogue’s gallery of witnesses........

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