DRAGON ON CENTRE STREET

A president stands accused.

Bromwich’s account of the trial that ended with the Republican presidential candidate convicted of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records is solid, if light on scoops. Considering that it revisits an exhaustively covered 2024 court case—which itself has since been overshadowed by numerous controversies involving the book’s central figure—Trump fatigue may limit its appeal. Bromwich starts slow, awkwardly explaining that the title alludes to a person uninvolved in the trial: Kanye West, who in 2018 said he and Trump “are both dragon energy.” The book proper then begins with a dozen uneventful pages about “indictment watch,” the “endless March days” in 2023 when he and other New York Times reporters hung out at a Manhattan courthouse, waiting for word that District Attorney Alvin Bragg would be charging Trump for hiding hush money payments to an adult-film actress. Bromwich finds his footing in time, providing a brisk blow by blow from inside the courtroom and pulling back for informative recaps of, for instance, Bragg’s ascension at a moment when many prosecutors were rethinking tough sentences for nonviolent crimes. The testimonies of ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, porn star Stormy Daniels, and former tabloid publisher David Pecker are revisited at length and enlivened with helpful context about the mores of their respective professions. This is diligent work, a necessary part of this kind of book. Yet even Bromwich acknowledges that not everyone clamors for Trump trial intel. When he delivered online video reports from outside the courthouse, Bromwich got kudos for his clothes, but the videos didn’t “prompt within my friend group a greater interest in the trial, or questions about the case.” Following Trump’s conviction, as his opponents celebrated his status as a “felon,” his presidential campaign quickly raised $100 million.

A detailed look at a landmark court case.