--- title: Trump Case Will Be a Stress Test to Our Judicial System description: As Trump's indictment is unsealed and his case progresses, his defense strategy could undermine long-standing judicial norms canonical: https://time.com/6267457/trump-indictment-credibility-judicial-system/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-03-31T01:27:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T15:40:10.516Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Is About to Stress Test Our Judicial System og:description: As Trump's indictment is unsealed and his case progresses, his constant lying and misdirection could amount to a stress test of the US judicial system og:url: https://time.com/6267457/trump-indictment-credibility-judicial-system/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d50c26a68b28ee0/698a3b8bdb2987bfe5268daa/GettyImages-1244596053.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Former President Trump Holds Rally In Support Of Ohio Senate Candidate JD Vance og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Is About to Stress Test Our Judicial System twitter:description: As Trump's indictment is unsealed and his case progresses, his constant lying and misdirection could amount to a stress test of the US judicial system twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4d50c26a68b28ee0/698a3b8bdb2987bfe5268daa/GettyImages-1244596053.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # Trump Is About to Stress Test the Credibility of Our Judicial System > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Americans React to News of Donald Trump's Impending Indictment [Watch (HLS stream): Americans React to News of Donald Trump's Impending Indictment](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/ugn0W52t.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2023-03-31. Donald Trump has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury, prosecutors and defense lawyers said Thursday, making him the first former U.S. president to face a criminal charge and jolting his bid to retake the White House next year._ Mar 31, 2023 1:27 AM UTC  by [Philip Elliott](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott Senior Correspondent Mar 31, 2023 1:27 AM UTC _This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up_ [_here_](https://cloud.newsletters.time.com/signup?nln=dc-brief&source=dc%5Fonsite) _to get stories like this sent to your inbox._ For the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s [indictment](https://time.com/6261993/donald-trump-indictment-updates/), the former President was constantly throwing misdirection into the ether. He [predicted](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-labels-indictment-election-interference-predicts-it-will-backfire-massively/) an indictment and arrest in the coming hours, even as his advisers and lawyers conceded they had no evidence that was in the offing. He [raised](https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-seeks-make-criminal-allegations-pay-with-2024-fundraising-drive-2023-03-30/) cash on the threat of the prospect of criminal prosecution and [plotted](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/21/us/politics/trump-pending-indictment.html) with his team about a potential perp walk. Amid it all, the ex-President seemed to miss the severity of history’s judgment should he become the first of his cohort to face a criminal indictment. Well, late Thursday, that anticipated outcome finally came into relief. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed that a grand jury had made history, and that the process of [negotiating](https://time.com/6267428/donald-trump-indictment-latest-updates/) a surrender and booking for the former White House resident had already begun. In the coming days, as the indictment is unsealed and Trump [poses for his mugshot](https://time.com/6264352/donald-trump-arrest-what-happen/), the misdirection is unlikely to abate. And in that comes a distinct risk, one not confined to the American judicial system, the norms of the Presidency itself, or the basics of civility in a pluralistic political world. With every single utterance, filing, and grievance, Trump and those involved in this case—and potentially others—stand to rewrite the rules of criminal accountability in a high-charged political environment. For those who have watched Trump’s political career, none of this will seem new. If anything, it may sound like rhyming rejoinder to the last couple of years, where a clang of chaos was the best harmony available in the political hymnal of D.C. Few understand this strategy better than Steve Bannon. In the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, the then-CEO of Trump’s presidential campaign was headed toward baggage claim at the Las Vegas airport, when he boiled Trump’s strategy down to its essence while [chatting](https://money.cnn.com/2016/10/19/media/steve-bannon-donald-trump-presidential-debate/) with reporters who just happened to catch him. Trump was trailing in the polls and Hillary Clinton [seemed](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/12-days-stunned-nation-how-hillary-clinton-lost-n794131) destined to return to the White House—this time with the good office—and the nation seemed ready to send _The Apprentice_ star back to the mock boardroom on the [fifth floor](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-26/a-look-inside-donald-trump-s-campaign-headquarters#xj4y7vzkg) of Trump Tower. But Bannon, arriving in Nevada to watch the third and final [debate](https://www.theringer.com/2016/10/20/16046968/donald-trump-head-fake-to-nowhere-third-presidential-debate-hillary-clinton-46c9cdd6f6d5), seemed upbeat, even excited. Trump, Bannon said, was “the master of the head fake,” optimistic that such misdirection could help power him to the White House despite polling, structural, and political headwinds. Bannon, it turned out, was correct. And not just about how Trump would deploy such tactics to win the White House a few weeks later. Trump used them to great effect once there. Few possess his inherent ability to turn narratives on a dime with little more than a seemingly accidental aside, an errant tweet, or a snarky insult laced with a threat. Put simply: the Head Fake Presidency seemed limitless. At least until it wasn’t. The coming days, weeks, and probably months are set to test whether Trump’s head fakes can overpower the institutions of a criminal justice system never before tested in such a way. Since the start of his career in politics, Trump has seemed to have survived some of his most dangerous moments using a strategy of drowning bad news with bigger outrage. Facing his own troubles, he deployed a Soviet-era flex of [_WhatAboutism_](https://time.com/6234392/trump-announcement-no-idea-why-he-lost-column/). And, more often than not, it worked. As President, Trump stuck with that instinct, employing misdirection at every turn. He [launched](https://www.nationalreview.com/news/trump-orders-strike-on-iran-then-abruptly-cancels-it/) and suddenly [called off](https://www.npr.org/2019/06/21/734683701/trump-reportedly-orders-strike-on-iran-then-calls-off-attack-plan) a strike on Iranian facilities as retaliation for a downed U.S. drone. On [immigration](https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/03/donald-trump-immigration-reform), [Puerto Rico](https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-jones-act-head-fake-on-puerto-rico-1507330810), the [Trans-Pacific Partnership](https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenroberts/2018/04/13/trump-gives-a-head-fake-on-trans-pacific-partnership-few-are-fooled-anymore/?sh=1879001467d4), guns, [immigration](https://medium.com/@jakefuentes/the-immigration-ban-is-a-headfake-and-were-falling-for-it-b8910e78f0c5), and [climate change](https://www.foxnews.com/transcript/gutfeld-donald-trumps-climate-change-head-fake), he balked at other moves as he took delight in shattering norms. His transactional approach was mired in gamesmanship and posturing, seldom in facts. It’s continued in his post-presidency, including through his tangled web of legal troubles. Even when E. Jean Carroll gets her day in a courtroom in a civil lawsuit [alleging](https://time.com/5717679/e-jean-carroll-trump-defamation/) Trump raped her in a department store dressing room and then defamed her for making the allegations, Trump’s notorious indifference to honest-dealing will be a subtext of the trial; the jury’s identity will be [concealed](https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7zq9w/trump-investigations-indictment-e-jean-carroll-anonymous-jury) to protect them from threats and intimidation—an extraordinary step. As the first criminal charges against an ex-President move forward, the combination of head fakes and the legitimate threat to judicial norms should not be taken lightly. The stratagem has worked plenty for Trump to this point, and it still may, to be clear. At the same time, these proceedings might finally shake the American public of its reflex to follow Trump’s eyeline when it locks on to something blurry in the distance. After all, it seems an indictment is about to be in plain view, even if a lot of Americans aren’t yet ready to believe their eyes. In fact, Trump and his allies are going to work overtime to ensure that his strongest supporters never get there, even if it further diminishes the credibility of the nation’s courts. _Make sense of what matters in Washington._ [_Sign up for the D.C. 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