Nearly every day of Donald Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial, photographers have captured a grimacing Trump seated at the defense table, a former U.S. president for the first time facing criminal charges in an American courtroom.
The judge, jurors and witnesses are not allowed to be photographed, but for most of the proceedings, pool photographers were brought to shoot Trump as the day began. They've captured his handwritten notes, like the sticky note affixed to commentary he had compiled that said simply, in black marker, “This case should be dismissed by the judge.”
Courtroom sketch artists — as well as a fine artist — also relayed their depictions of Trump to those outside the courtroom. Trump sometimes delivered remarks to cameras stationed in the hallway lashing out about the charges — and occasionally tightly gripping a stack of papers — while one of his defense attorneys glowered beside him. At other times, he strode past the cameras, holding his fist aloft or offering a thumbs-up.
Fresh from the courtroom during the first week, Trump made a campaign stop, visiting the Sanaa Convenient Store in Harlem, where a man was stabbed to death in 2022. Photographers also captured his antagonists: witness Stormy Daniels, whose claims of a sexual encounter with Trump are at the center of the alleged cover-up scheme, leaving the court after testifying against him; and Michel Cohen, Trump’s former attorney and fixer, arriving at home after a day on the stand. Between April 15 and May 29, Getty Images tagged 12,692 images with “Donald Trump New York.”
Outside, Trump’s supporters and critics have swelled the square facing the courthouse, Collect Pond Park, where, as the first week of the trial came to a close, a man lit himself on fire. Meanwhile, a rotating cast of family members and surrogates — including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La. — joined Trump at court before taking to the street outside to deliver many of the attacks Trump himself is barred from making.
