Source: Politics<\/p>\n
This week in Iowa, a host of Republican candidates will drop in on diners, shake hands in rope lines, conduct television interviews and hold rallies from Sioux Falls to Davenport.<\/p>\n
And then there will be one engaged in high-profile appearances in courtrooms hundreds of miles away.<\/p>\n
For part of the closing week of the caucus, Donald Trump is choosing to put a spotlight on his legal troubles by taking himself off the trail and heading into a courthouse.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, he will fly to Washington, D.C. to make an appearance in a federal appeals court for oral arguments related to his criminal trial for election interference. On Thursday, he is set to fly to New York for closing arguments in his civil fraud trial.<\/p>\n
Neither of the appearances is mandatory. The ex-president believes he is his own best line of defense and is making a calculated bet that there is value in primary voters seeing him on trial than in meeting him on the trail.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time Democrat prosecutors have dragged him through the court system it has galvanized and increased his support among Republicans. There\u2019s no reason that should change. They\u2019re trying to put him in jail and keep him off the ballot in as many places as they can, and Republican voters are leaping to his defense,\u201d said Tim Murtaugh, Trump\u2019s 2020 communications director.<\/p>\n
Trump isn\u2019t totally forgoing Iowa this week. In between his two court dates he will be at a Fox News town hall from the state, and he has back-to-back events Saturday and Sunday. But the split screen he is setting up by going to court during one of the most important weeks of the GOP primary is unprecedented. And it reflects one of the defining elements of the primary campaign: Trump\u2019s courtroom trips are as important as any Iowa county visit.<\/p>\n
In fact, his team believes they are paving the path to his nomination.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone thought that the indictments, the arrest, the charges would all be torpedoes and they’re not. In fact, he raised more money. It is bulletproofing him in the polls,\u201d said an adviser to Trump\u2019s 2024 presidential campaign, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak freely.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo geographic challenges of traveling back and forth or that he should be on the road in Iowa, New Hampshire instead of going to this hearing \u2013 sure, those could be torpedoes for somebody else, but in Donald Trump’s hand they are resources.\u201d<\/p>\n
Where Trump\u2019s legal travails end and his political demands begin is often hard to tell. He is set to have a busy legal calendar this spring. But while he is in court, his campaign will be working to amplify his message with their surrogates and TV hits. There are communications staffers dedicated to Trump\u2019s legal cases and some of Trump\u2019s attorneys on his cases, like Alina Habba, appear on cable news to hammer home her boss\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s rivals have openly acknowledged that they believe it has skewed the race<\/a> to his benefit. Trailing him by double digits, they haven\u2019t just largely refrained from attacking him over his court appearances, they\u2019ve actively rushed to his defense, calling the trials political.<\/p>\n