Donald Trump arrived in Mar-a-Lago at 3 PM ET, just about 10 minutes after this happened:
Audible gasps were reportedly heard inside the court room as well as muffled laughter. White House staff, however, likely took no pleasure in the Hannity bombshell. In fact, they had already been girding for a grim week of Trump's off-script tirades and rudderless decisions at Mar-a-Lago. Politico writes:
The president’s regular visits to Mar-a-Lago often bring out an even more unfiltered Trump — and people close to the president are bracing for a potentially tumultuous trip, according to three outside advisers.
Even before he departed on Monday, Trump was already fuming over former FBI Director James Comey’s new book and the criminal investigation into his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Five days at Mar-a-Lago, where he often spends even more time watching cable news and talking to friends, could send his frustrations to new heights.
Anyone who watched news coverage of Cohen's court proceeding knows it was a zoo even before Hannity's name dropped like a bomb in the middle of it. Among other notable occurrences, Stormy Daniels and her attorney Michael Avenatti were on hand to both literally and figuratively make a statement about her defamation suit against Cohen.
Just think about that—Cohen, Hannity, Stormy—Trump must have been losing his mind.
"Someone should say a prayer for Sarah, Mercy and Raj because rest assured, Mar-A-Lago is the last place they want the president spending his time this week,” said one person close to the White House, referring to White House communications staffers Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Mercedes Schlapp and Raj Shah. “They have a lot of clean-up duty ahead of them."
I'll be saving my prayers and meditations for the country, thanks.
In the meantime, get your morning beverage ready bright and early tomorrow—Trump’s gonna have some steam to blow off.