Sources told Rolling Stone that Trump had been rehearsing what he thought would be a blistering, dramatic conclusion to the case that will determine the fate of his business empire.

Without waiting for Engoron’s permission, Trump began delivering a grievance-laden tirade from the defense table after asking once again if he could address the court, calling the trial a “political witch hunt,” and saying that “we should receive damages for what we went through.”

The former president’s private “rehearsing” of what he planned to say included haranguing the judge’s staff, railing against the New York attorney general as “racist” and soft on crime, claiming that the trial was an example of the Democratic Party and Biden administration supposedly trying to “rig” the 2024 election, and gratuitously boasting of the values of his sprawling business and real-estate empire, among other jabs and bluster.

After Engoron denied his request, a defiant Trump addressed reporters before entering the courtroom on Thursday, calling the trial a “disgrace” and a “terrible witch hunt.”

Trump has adopted a similar tactic as he has in the slew of other criminal and civil litigation leveled against him since his departure from office: publicly attacking judges, prosecutors, and other individuals associated with the case.

The judge cautioned Trump and his attorneys that “this is not a political rally” and that if the former president would not cooperate Engoron would be forced to “excuse him and draw every negative inference that I can.”

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