Trump set to hold first criminal trial of former US president

Donald Trump will go on trial on Monday, the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges that threaten him with jail time if convicted.

His lawyers, prosecutors and Judge Juan Merchant will begin selecting jurors in a New York court to hear evidence of Trump’s alleged dalliances with a porn star and a one-time Playboy playmate who received hush money payments Remain silent and falsify business books to hide payments. .

Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in November’s election, will watch the entire trial from the dock, which is likely to run four days a week for the next month and a half. Whether he can go to court to defend himself depends on how he and his lawyers view prosecutors’ evidence.

Trump, who served as U.S. chief executive from early 2017 to January 2021, has repeatedly challenged his prosecution. He complained on his Truth Social platform last week: “Nothing like this has ever happened in our country before. On Monday I will be forced to sit in front of a highly conflicted and corrupt judge with his mouth gagged. Come on, his hatred for me knows no bounds.”

The case will almost certainly keep the 77-year-old candidate away from the campaign trail for an extended period of time as he must appear in court. He is trying to wrest the White House from Democratic President Joe Biden, who defeated him in the 2020 election, although Trump continues to falsely claim that he was cheated out of another four-year term due to voting irregularities.

Trump is accused of hiding $130,000 in hush money from porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election to prevent her from speaking out about a one-night tryst with him a decade ago at a celebrity golf tournament. statement. Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to son Barron more than four months ago.

In a second example, the indictment alleges that former Playboy of the Year Karen McDougal said she had a months-long affair with Trump and that a tabloid publisher paid her $15 The latter purchased the rights to her story for $10,000 and then, at Trump’s urging, killed the article.

Trump denies both incidents and all 34 charges he faces in the New York case, including that he directed one-time political fixer and convicted perjurer Michael Cohen to make payments to Daniels before he A year after his fees were repaid in 2017, Trump’s business records consistently label Cohen’s monthly stipend as legal expenses.

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, including 88 charges, all of which he denies.

Some legal analysts believe the hush-money case is the least significant of the four he faces. But it may be the only case that will go to trial before the Nov. 5 election.

Two additional indictments accuse Trump of illegally trying to overturn his 2020 defeat, while a third indictment accuses Trump of illegally taking hundreds of highly classified national security documents to his Florida home at the end of his term as president The state oceanfront estate then declined investigators’ requests. Return them.

No firm trial date has been set in any of the three cases, and all have been delayed by preliminary hearings and legal arguments. Trump has sought to delay the start date until after the election and could seek to have the federal charges dismissed if he wins. In any case, if he were to take power again, he would not be tried during his presidency.

Cohen, who has spoken out against his former boss, is expected to be a key witness for Trump. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress in the case. In total, he was incarcerated for about 13 1/2 months and spent a year and a half at home.

Stormy Daniels, whose given name is Stephanie Clifford, is also expected to testify, as can McDougall.

Prosecutors could also call Hope Hicks to testify. Hicks, a loyal and longtime Trump aide, witnessed firsthand the behind-the-scenes campaign strategy in the lead-up to the 2016 vote.

Trump has railed against the hush-money charge since he was indicted a year ago, claiming that and other accusations against him are part of a conspiracy by President Joe Biden and Democrats to prevent him from ever winning the White House again. . He called it “election interference.”

There is no evidence that Biden played any role in the prosecution Trump faces.

When Merchin first issued a gag order barring him from verbally attacking key figures in the case who might testify against him, Trump expressed his disapproval, including one whom Trump often called “horse face.” Daniels.

Trump later used his “Truth Social” platform to attack Loren Merchan, the judge’s daughter and a key official at a political consulting firm that works with Biden and other Democrats in 2020 Campaign work.

“This judge should be recused and this case should be dismissed,” Trump argued. “Almost never has a judge been more inconsistent than this judge. Worst election interference of all!”

Merchant ignored Trump’s taunts but tightened his gag order, which prohibits him from attacking relatives of the judge or of Alvin Bragg, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Murcha said the gag order against Trump was justified because of his conduct in other recent court cases, citing “threatening, inflammatory, defamatory” comments he made.

“A threat to the integrity of the judicial process is no longer just a possibility or a reasonable possibility. The threat is very real,” Merchant wrote in imposing a stricter gag order on his daughter, despite not being a judge or prosecutor.

Trump immediately said it would be a “great honor” for Merchant to be jailed for violating the gag order, comparing himself to South Africa’s late Nelson Mandela, who was convicted for his opposition to racial discrimination. He was imprisoned for many years in isolation.

“If this partisan hack wants me to be ‘punished’ for telling the public and obvious truth, I will gladly be a modern-day Nelson Mandela,” Trump said on “Truth Social.”

“We must save our country from these politicians masquerading as prosecutors and judges, and I am willing to sacrifice my freedom for this worthy cause,” he said.

Trump presidential campaign spokesman Steven Cheung called the more restrictive gag order “unconstitutional” in a statement to CBS News and claimed it prevented Trump from “Engaging in core political speech.”