Opening arguments are set to begin Monday in Donald Trump’s trial in New York, the first criminal case against a former U.S. president.
Addressing the 12-member jury, prosecutors are likely to accuse Trump of orchestrating hush-money payments to two women in 2016, just before his successful bid for the White House, to cover up their alleged extramarital affairs with him accusations.
Prosecutors believe Trump tried to leak information about his private life to voters in the run-up to the vote eight years ago.
But Trump’s lawyers, in addition to denying that an affair took place, are likely to tell jurors that business records of Trump’s payments to Michael Cohen were allegedly to reimburse him for his legal work, not Cohen’s claims that he paid pornographic women. Actor Stormy Daniels paid $130,000 in hush money. .
Cohen, a convicted perjurer who served as Trump’s political fixer and personal attorney, has turned against the former president and is expected to be a key witness for prosecutors.
One day last week, Trump told reporters during a court appearance, “I paid my attorney’s fees and chalked them up to legal expenses. That’s what happened.”
The jury was seated last week
On Thursday, the jury of seven men and five women heard evidence in a trial that is likely to last six weeks. The jury included two lawyers, six business employees, two people working in the education field, a health care worker and an engineer.
Six alternate jurors were also selected, but would only assist in the decision of the case if for some reason one or more of the alternates were needed to replace one of the 12 jurors. . None of the 18 people have been identified.
Some jurors acknowledged to New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchant and Trump’s defense attorneys that they had expressed negative views of the 77-year-old former president in recent years, but both said they could put those views aside On one side, the case is being tried. quite. A few said they paid little attention to the day’s news.
Trump served as president from 2017 to 2021 and is the Republican presidential candidate in this year’s election on November 5. He denies an affair involving Daniels and one-time Playmate of the Year Karen McDougall, as well as all 34 felonies in the indictment filed against him a year ago.
Trump has frequently attacked Silent Judge in social media posts as he seeks to regain the presidency and has called the case “election interference.”
Prosecutors argued that Trump repeatedly violated Merchin’s gag order, which bars him from disparaging key players in the case, even though the judge excluded himself from the order.
Merkel has scheduled a hearing for Tuesday on prosecutors’ request to hold Trump in contempt of court and impose fines. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.
Ultimately, Trump could go to court to defend himself, depending on how he and his lawyers view prosecutors’ evidence.
The case will almost certainly limit Trump’s time on the campaign trail as he faces Democratic President Joe Biden for the second consecutive election cycle.
On a day off from the trial, Trump traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina, for a rally on Saturday night, but the event was canceled as heavy rain swept through the city.
Possibility of going to jail
Trump is accused of concealing a $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels a month before the 2016 election to prevent her from speaking publicly about her one-night tryst with him a decade ago at a celebrity golf tournament. It comes less than four months after Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron, who is now 18.
In the second example, the indictment cites McDougall’s claims that she had a months-long affair with Trump and that she was paid $150,000 by a tabloid publisher who purchased her copyright the story, then removed the article at Trump’s urging.
Trump has denied both incidents, including that he directed Cohen to pay Daniels and then reimbursed him in 2017, his first year as president.
Tampering with company books would be considered a misdemeanor, but to convict Trump of a more serious felony, prosecutors would have to convince jurors that he committed underlying crimes such as trying to influence by withholding information about the matters involved The results of the 2016 election came from the voters.
The hush money payments are not illegal, and Trump may claim they were made simply to avoid disclosure of a personally damaging moment in his life, rather than to try to influence the 2016 election.
The jury must decide unanimously on guilt or innocence. If jurors cannot agree, a so-called hung jury results, leaving prosecutors to decide whether to seek a new trial.
Each charge carries a potential four-year prison sentence, although Trump is sure to appeal any guilty verdict and sentence.
The New York case is one of four unprecedented criminal indictments Trump faces, involving 88 charges, all of which he denies. However, the hush money trial may be the only one that takes place before the November election.
Two other indictments — one state and one federal — accuse him of illegally trying to reverse losses in 2020, while a third accuses him of illegally converting hundreds of millions of dollars into cash at the end of his presidential term. A highly classified national security document was brought to his Florida beachfront estate. and then refused investigators’ requests to return them.
No firm trial date has been set in any of the three cases, and Trump has sought to delay the start until after the election.
If he wins, he may seek to have the federal charges dismissed. In any case, if he were to take power again, he would not be tried during his presidency.
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