Donald Trump trial LIVE: Follow updates of the Stormy Daniels hush money case as jury selection begins

Of the 1.4 million adults living in Manhattan, it will be nearly impossible to find anyone who doesn’t already have an opinion about it Donald Trump.

But 12 of them will be chosen to ultimately decide his fate as the first former president to appear in a criminal trial that begins Monday.

They will be chosen from hundreds of eligible New York residents to serve on the landmark case in which Trump is accused of concealing a $130,000 hush money payment to a porn star. Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their alleged affair in 2006.

If found guilty by his peer group, he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison for a saga that began 18 years ago and has seen wall-to-wall news coverage not just in the Big Apple, but around the world. press has had. .

Will it be impossible to find a dozen people who don’t already have a bias against the presumptive Republican nominee for president? Experts who specialize in jury selection tell DailyMail.com that this is possible.

What started as a chance meeting at a charity golf tournament eighteen years ago has turned into one of the biggest legal dramas in history.

On Monday, Donald Trump will become the first former president to be prosecuted for paying $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels over their alleged affair.

The trial, which will last between six and eight weeks, will be full of impressive testimonies and dramas resulting from years of scandals.

Witnesses will testify about lurid allegations of meetings in hotel suites, blockbuster TV interviews and backroom deals involving the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

The case centers on payments to Daniels by Trump’s then-fixer Michel Cohen ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

She claims it happened less than four months after Melania Trump gave birth to the couple’s son, Barron.

There have been legal twists and turns around every corner since then, as Trump has spent four years in the White House and is now in the midst of a bid for another term.

Welcome to DailyMail.com’s live coverage of Donald Trump’s historic Manhattan trial, the first of four criminal cases he faces.

The former president will be in court to watch as 12 New York residents are chosen to serve on the jury.

The 77-year-old has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying company records to conceal a $130,000 payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up their alleged affair.

He has denied all allegations and strongly rejects her claims that they had a sexual encounter on a golf course in 2006.