Trump wishes Melania Trump a happy birthday as he walks into court: Ex-president says he'd rather be in Florida with the first lady... and complains courtroom is being kept cold 'on purpose'

Former President Donald Trump sent long-distance birthday wishes to his wife Melania at the start of Day 8 of his Stormy Daniels trial – then complained the courthouse was being kept at 'freezing temperatures' on purpose.

'I want to start by wishing my wife Melania a very happy birthday. Would be nice to be with her but I'm at a courthouse for a rigged trial,' Trump said inside Manhattan criminal court before the cameras and a gaggle of reporters, with his legal team flanked behind him.

'But we're doing very well in this rigged trial. Everybody knows it. Yesterday was a big day. But I do have to begin by wishing Melania happy birthday. She's in Florida,' Trump said. 

He said he would be going to Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach after 'this horrible, unconstitutional case' wraps for the week Friday to rejoin the former first lady.

Trump started Friday with courthouse 'happy birthday' wishes for former first lady Melania Trump

Then he got to complaining about his trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to 'hush' payments to porn star Stormy Daniels.

'It should be over. The case is over,' Trump said, as his attorneys prepared to resume cross examination of ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, who testified about a secret 'deal' with Trump to bury negative stories about him.

He called Judge Juan Merchan 'highly conflicted,' then got back to his running complaints about the courtroom climate – this time suggesting a deliberate ploy.

'So we have another day of court in a freezing courthouse,' he said. 'It's very cold in there. On purpose, I believe. They don’t seem to be able to get the temperature up. It shouldn’t be that complicated,' he said.

Trump said conditions were being kept cold inside the courtroom 'on purpose'

That added a new element to his complaints about the temperature, which he had first raised last week.

'I'm sitting here for days now, from morning 'til night, in that freezing room. Freezing. Everybody was freezing in there,' he said then. 

Trump said he spent part of Thursday night listening to arguments at the U.S. Supreme Court, where justices tested his lawyer's claim of immunity from criminal prosecution. Trump said the argument was 'brilliant.'