Former President Donald Trump might seem publicly bombastic and confident in the face of serious legal troubles but he privately believes he’ll be convicted, according to a new report from Axios.
Sources told the outlet that Trump believes he will be convicted in the federal case that alleges Trump tried to overturn 2020 election results. It is expected to go to trial in the spring, and U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over the case. She has already clashed with Trump over a gag order and Axios noted that she has been tough on Capitol rioters.
Additionally, jurors from the case will be pulled from Washington D.C., which the outlet said is “overwhelmingly Democratic.”
Even though the former president thinks he could be convicted, he also thinks he can win the 2024 general election. Indeed, the four indictments and 91 felony charges he faces have helped him at the polls and boosted fundraising.
Still, that’s mainly with Republican voters. Whether Trump can sway independent voters with his narrative that the indictments are a “witch hunt” and his continued claims that the 2020 election was stolen are less clear. Even his advisers are concerned about it, said Axios.
Although CNN poll results released this week showed Trump in a slight lead over Democrat President Joe Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup, a Quinnipiac poll from this week showed the opposite. Morning Consult polling from seven swing states released this week found that more than half of registered voters said they wouldn’t vote for Trump if he was convicted of a crime.
While sources told Axios that Trump plans to attend the trial in person, its timing seems to be up in the air. Though it was scheduled to begin March 4, The Washington Post reported this week that it was dropped from the court calendar.
“Appeals could push the trial into late spring or summer,” according to Axios. “And the closer a trial date gets to Election Day, the less likely it is to occur.”
A hush money case in New York may also move ahead this year as Trump campaigns. If Trump does end up appearing in court, it would make for a unique presidential campaign season, the outlet said. One “ally” cited by Axios said Trump plans to “play it up” in court, and the report said he has been privately raging at prosecutors.
“If he really thought it was a good thing, he wouldn’t be so unhinged,” said one source.