When Donald Trump’s criminal trial began, his courtroom entourage consisted of a gaggle of lawyers and campaign aides. This week, it’s started to look more like a preview of July’s Republican National Convention.

It was a dramatic show of support by the man second in line to the US presidency, and it came just a week after Mr Johnson survived a challenge to his congressional leadership from within his own party – a challenge that fizzled, in part, because Mr Trump repeatedly spoke out in his favour.

Many have sat behind the former president in the courtroom or stood nodding while he has given his impromptu press statements before and after the day’s trial.

Mr Trump’s criminal trial is uncharted territory, and there is no playbook for how members of a political party should handle their former president – and their current presumptive presidential nominee – sitting in the criminal dock.

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