Trump Wants ‘Spectacle’ of Being Handcuffed as Case Looks ‘More Problematic’ Than Initially Thought: Report

Former President Donald Trump reportedly not only welcomes being perp-walked by authorities in Manhattan, but he has been telling those close to him he wants to create as much of a “spectacle” as possible.

The Guardian and the New York Times ran similar reports detailing Trump’s “behind closed doors at Mar-a-Lago” conversations regarding his desire to become a martyr for his own cause. Michael C. Bender and Maggie Haberman write in the Times that Trump “has told friends and associates that he welcomes the idea of being paraded by the authorities before a throng of reporters and news cameras.”

“He has even mused openly about whether he should smile for the assembled media, and he has pondered how the public would react and is said to have described the potential spectacle as a fun experience,” the Times adds.

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell added that a source told him Trump is itching to turn his surrender into a “spectacle.”

“Trump’s increasing insistence that he wants to be handcuffed behind his back for a perp walk appears to come from various motivations, including that he wants to project defiance in the face of what he sees as an unfair prosecution and that it would galvanize his base for his 2024 presidential campaign,” added Lowell.

Lowell joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday morning to discuss his reporting and highlighted the reason behind Trump’s apparently gleeful willingness to be publicly arrested – a newfound understanding of the severity of the charges he faces.

Lowell was asked why Trump would want such a “spectacle.”

“It’s a good question because their understanding of this case has shifted. We started out talking about campaign finance violations and whether that can be tied to falsifying business records. Now they think actually maybe the case is going to end up as a tax fraud issue — because trump never paid tax on $130,000 that went to Stormy Daniels and now that actually is starting freak out a little bit,” Lowell replied, adding:

And I spoke to a couple of lawyers who are connected to the case, and they actually think this is more problematic than what they initially recognized.

And it sounds like this has filtered back to Trump because Trump seems to think that an indictment is very likely and he wants to be handcuffed, he’s been very specific about where he wants his handcuffs. He wants them behind his back.

He clearly thinks this is imminent.

“When you say this is worse than they initially believed, why so? What about it looks worse than they thought?” followed up co-host Willie Geist.

“Because they thought they had a defense for the campaign finance stuff. The legal argument that Susan Necheles, one of the Trump lawyers, made to the DA’s office was it’s not going to be a crime because of this irrespective test. And the irrespective test is where the money would have been paid irrespective of the campaign, just because Trump is a famous guy and wants to avoid the embarrassment, then it’s not a crime. With the tax fraud being tied to falsifying business records, that’s a much tougher issue to overcome,” Lowell explained.

Watch the full clip above via MSNBC.