NEW YORK — Opening statements in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial are set to begin Monday morning, setting the stage for weeks of unsavory and salacious testimony detailing the former president’s personal life and putting his legal troubles at the center of his closely contested campaign against President Joe Biden.
A panel of New Yorkers – 12 jurors and six alternates – was sworn in last Friday after four days of jury selection and will hear what is the first-ever criminal trial of a former US commander in chief.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal company records as part of an alleged scheme to bury stories he believed could damage his 2016 presidential campaign.
At the heart of the allegations is a $130,000 payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump in the final days of the race from surfacing would come.
Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of such payments in internal company documents. Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal fees. He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying company records.
The hush money case is the first of four charges against Trump to come to trial.
Currently:
– Key players: who’s who in Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial
– The hush money case is just one of Trump’s lawsuits. Check out the others here
– Trump cancels rally due to weather, proving how difficult it is to balance a process and a campaign
– Trump was forced to listen silently as potential jurors gave their unvarnished verdicts on him
– Live video of man setting himself on fire outside court proves a challenge for news organizations
Here’s the latest:
Donald Trump is charged with 34 felonies for falsifying company records and faces up to four years in prison if convicted, although it is not clear whether the judge will try to put him behind bars. A conviction would not prevent Trump from running for president again, but because it is a matter of state, he would not be able to try to pardon himself if found guilty. He has repeatedly denied all allegations.
As Trump battles to win back the White House, the trial will require him to spend his days in court rather than on the campaign trail. He will have to listen as witnesses tell salacious and possibly unflattering details about his private life.
Still, Trump has tried to turn his status as a criminal defendant into an asset for his campaign, raising money for his legal peril and repeatedly railing against a legal system that he has claimed for years is being weaponized against him.
For the first time, prosecutors will present a criminal case against a former US president to a jury on Monday as they accuse Donald Trump of a hush-money scheme aimed at preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public.
The statements are expected to give jurors and the voting public the clearest picture yet of the allegations at the heart of the case, as well as insight into Trump’s expected defense.
The case will be heard by a jury, which includes several lawyers, a sales professional, an investment banker and an English teacher.
The case will test jurors’ ability to set aside any biases, as well as Trump’s ability to adhere to the court’s restrictions, such as a gag order banning him from attacking witnesses. Prosecutors are seeking fines against him for alleged violations of that order.