Trump knows that the acts are criminal but he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and inherited truck loads of money from his daddy. Over the years he learned or was taught that with money and people to help intimidate others you can simply get away with it. Evidence suggests that its worked for him so many times that he just got to think it was normal and his special right.
This is why he is so fixated on his claims to be "so rich". Its not just part of his manufactured identity but also part of the mechanism which he has come to rely upon to intimidate people. He is scared that if people know that he isn't that rich and can't bully them with expensive lawyers etc that some people will stand upto him and maybe even start to report and give evidence about other things that he has done.
