Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago speech ‘lacked energy’ for key reason after ‘anger and unusual behavior’ in court, expert says
he found that Trump displayed patterns that indicated sadness and anger at the hearing, the latter being exceptionally rare for defendants.
"I've been covering trials as a body language expert for well over 20 years," Wood said.
"So when a defendant shows anger, going in and out of the courtroom and in the courtroom, that's interesting to me because it's not standard.
"I see it when they need to win somehow and feel powerful, but it's not typical in an everyday defendant."
Instead, Wood told The U.S. Sun that those accused of crimes oftentimes are "hunched over" and can look defeated before a judge.
One photo of Trump appeared to show him shutting his eyes, which could indicate that he was "blocking what's happening from the brain," Wood analyzed.
"The eyes actually close because what the person is experiencing is too much, too overwhelming," she said after prefacing that he could have just been photographed mid-blink.
Leaving the courtroom, Trump appeared to try and cater to his audience and gesture a closed fist with a wave, which is typical of him.
However, he really lacked animation, according to Wood, who theorized that it could be due to an absence of control.
"It's modified from his normal fist," she said of his gesture to the audience.
Instead of pointing the "fierce" knuckle as a show of strength, he instead appeared to be "gripping on trying to hold it together," Wood said.
"What he's really feeling is, 'I need to hold on,'" Wood theorized.
"That's something you're more likely to see in children."
'HUSH MONEY' PAYMENTS
The charges against Trump stem from a $130,000 hush-money payment that his former fixer, Michael D. Cohen, made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 campaign to silence claims of an affair.
Cohen confessed to the payment and was sentenced to three years in prison.
The case also includes claims of separate payments to a second woman, former Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Trump allegedly played a role in paying $150,000 to McDougal, who claims that she began a 10-month relationship with the former president in 2006, according to the Wall Street Journal.
