A CNN panel said Tuesday that former President Donald Trump looked “sad” as he left Trump Tower to be arraigned at the New York courthouse.
CNN host Anderson Cooper asked former White House aide Alyssa Farah Griffin how often Trump is without his political advisers and acolytes around him.
"Virtually never, and I have to imagine that he's noticing that feeling right now because even a minor event in his presidency and immediate post-presidency, he'll travel with as many as a dozen people around him from press staffers to you know, body men to lawyers and so on," said Griffin. "And we were noticing, at least from our vantage point, we didn't see what looked like traditional staff, whether campaign, or otherwise, get out. So that's got to be a jarring and lonely feeling."
Former Trump adviser David Urban agreed, saying he saw the Secret Service, but no one else around the former president.
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"Alyssa and I were kind of guessing who was along for the ride. Who might have been with him for the trip, and it's hard to tell who had accompanied him," he said.
But it was Van Jones that brought up that at a human level, "you never feel more helpless. Then in that situation, the government is bigger than you. The state is bigger than you. You — you don't have power and control. You're looking at people who can control your life, and it's a very bad feeling."
He went on to say that it was likely a sobering moment for Trump and that there might be some level of pain going through the process for his marriage and his family.
There "was a lot of human stuff that the cameras can capture, but I can tell you, having spent time with defendants, this is one of the worst moments of anybody's life," Jones said.
Cooper showed the photo of Trump leaving the building, with his fist raised in the air.
"In that car ride — it was something like 20 minutes over," Griffin said. "We don't — I don't know if we know whether anyone was riding with him, but that's a very long and lonely car ride I've traveled with the former president, whether on Marine One or in the motorcade before where if he's in a mood, he's going to want someone to talk to. If he's upset about something, he's going to want somebody to bounce ideas on how to respond to it. And I think that was probably a time that it was sinking in for him. What exactly he was walking into."
Urban said that Trump typically has a smile on his face and is typically upbeat. The photos show a very different Trump.
"Even you know, he's kind of got his fist up and he was waving to the crowd, as Alyssa just said, it's got to be a tough, tough," he said.
"He looks sad," said Jones. "He looks sad. He looks like the weight of it is hitting him."
He closed by saying it was "a granddad having a very bad day."
See the conversation about Trump below or at the link here.
'He looks sad': CNN panel sees reality 'sinking in' on Trump's face www.youtube.com
