'Perma-scowl': Observers say Trump is not doing well at hiding frustration from jurors

Donald Trump is looking increasingly dejected in court — and he's not hiding his feelings well, onlookers said Tuesday.

According to New York Times reporter Sue Craig, Trump "looked very frustrated all morning."

"Not a lot of facial expressions at times. Very steady, but not happy," Craig told MSNBC.

Her assessment coincided with the second day of testimony from witness and former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who shared intimate stories about the former president as he described a "catch and kill" scheme to halt potentially damaging stories about him.

Trump closed his eyes as he spoke, apparently to prevent him showing emotion.

Earlier in the day, Trump had sat through a gag order hearing to consider if he'd violated the ban on speaking about witnesses and jurors. He ranted about the injustice of the order to members of the press after the day's hearing ended.

CNN's special correspondent Jamie Gangel made a similar observation to Craig.

"I don't know what was going through his head today, but he looked pretty miserable," she said Tuesday afternoon. "And I just looked at today from the point of view of the jury. If you're watching this, Donald Trump, in many ways, is larger than life."

But, she added, showing you're unhappy smashes that illusion.

She remarked that one juror came out of the selection process saying that after a few minutes, it became clear he was just a "guy."

"I do wonder about the effect over time on the jurors, that he really becomes just some guy," she said.

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The "frown" was also observed by Katie Phang too.

Another observer on X said, "Defendant Trump looked like a beaten con man."

MSNBC reporter Joy Reid reported Trump had a kind of "perma-scowl" throughout the day.

"My mama used to say, 'Your face is going to stick that way.' Apparently, nobody ever taught that to Trump, as the scowl seems to be permanent," Victoria Kjellin said on X after Politico's Erica Orden noted the "scowl."

It matches observations from MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who was in court on Monday. Speaking to the afternoon anchors, she said, "He seemed old and tired and mad,"

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