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MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former President Trump split this week between a Manhattan courtroom and the campaign trail, proving that legal entanglements will not stop him from catching up with voters in New Hampshire.
He managed to hold rallies most nights this week.
Mr. Trump’s courtroom-to-campaign trail schedule is likely to become a regular and unprecedented part of the presidential campaign as he battles not only civil litigation, but 91 criminal charges in four separate cases that will take place in courtrooms in New York, Miami, Atlanta and Washington.
Even if Mr. Trump is sidelined in court, he plans to make time for voters, though he wasn’t required to be at this week’s civil trial in New York.
The former president will board his private jet and land somewhere on the campaign trail, where he’ll greet supporters and talk about his plans for a second term. He also will vent about his day in court fighting charges he believes are baseless and motivated by the Biden administration to prevent Mr. Trump from winning in November.
Mr. Trump followed the plan Tuesday and Wednesday this week, flying back and forth between New York and Manchester, attending the civil trial brought by E. Jean Carroll by day and holding evening rallies in Atkinson and Portsmouth.
“Here’s my schedule for the next four, five days,” Mr. Trump explained to supporters in Atkinson on Monday. “I come here and meet with great groups. And I get on a plane, late at night when it’s snowing and freezing. And I go to a Biden witch hunt. And I come here in the afternoon and stop and make speeches and get your votes.”
The New Hampshire primary is Monday, and Mr. Trump is looking to repeat the blowout win he enjoyed in this week in the Iowa caucuses.
Mr. Trump traveled from Iowa to the Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday, then jetted to New Hampshire later in the day.
He arrived at the Atkinson rally in the middle of a winter storm, telling supporters packed in a country club ballroom that his pilot suggested skipping the trip to avoid traveling through ice and snow.
“The pilot said, ‘Sir, I think you might have to do it another time,’” Mr. Trump recounted to the crowd. “I said, ‘I’ not going to tell the people of New Hampshire I’m not going to be there.’”
The crowd roared with approval and Mr. Trump added more details about the trip, which he described as “a little bit rocky.” He suggested he risked his life to get to the rally.
Mr. Trump’s Boeing 757 flew through a band of snow and sleet, and temperatures in the teens froze over winding roadways from the airport to the rally.
“I’m glad we made it,” he said. “That would have been a pretty big story, right? If we didn’t make it.”
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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