The presumptive Republican presidential nominee was ordered by New York Judge Juan Merchan to attend his trial or risk jail time, and sources told CNN's Dana Bash that Trump is already frustrated by his lack of control over the process.
"Not well, by all accounts, not happy at all," Bash said. "I was just talking to somebody who was very involved in his political world who said that the way that they're going to structure the strategy is they're going to take their cues from the Trump legal world, meaning what we are going to hear from the Trump attorneys inside the courtroom is going to be echoed rather quickly by his political campaign, and that's obviously in part just to kind of get the, the echo chamber out.
"But it's also because there is frustration that comes from the top, that comes from Donald Trump, about this gag order that they were talking about in New York, that we've been talking about for weeks. Now because it does limit just on the raw politics of this. It does limit them in their ability to, let's say, there's a witness and they want to put some dirt out on the witness."
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"The gag order doesn't allow them to do that, and the one thing I will also add is that a source familiar with Trump's thinking told me this morning that he is just mad at the world that he's in the courtroom," Bash added.
Special correspondent Jamie Gangel said she'll be watching for outbursts from Trump, who has been long accustomed to getting his way.
"I think lack of control is going to be the key thing that we watch over the next four, six weeks," Gangel said. "The other day the judge told him to sit down. He's not used to people speaking that way to him.
"The other thing is Donald Trump is really not used to starting his day at 9 or 9:30 in the morning. He famously would not show up to the Oval Office until 11 [a.m.] or 11:30 [a.m.]. He is going to be having to show up when court is called and stay.
"The other thing is the jurors are going to be watching him. They're going to be watching every move. I think over time the question is in person, is he bigger than life or is he diminished?"
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