Trump hush money trial starts Monday
NEW YORK—Donald Trump becomes the first US ex-president to go on criminal trial Monday—pushing the nation’s legal and electoral systems to the limit less than seven months before Americans decide whether to return the scandal-plagued Republican to the White House.
Trump, who will be running against Democratic President Joe Biden, is accused of falsifying business records in a scheme to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels so as not to doom his 2016 election campaign.
The so-called hush money affair is only one of four criminal cases hanging over Trump and it is arguably the least serious.
Trump said Friday that he would take the stand.
“I’m testifying. I tell the truth. I mean, all I can do is tell the truth and the truth is there’s no case,” he told reporters.
But long before that’s confirmed, the trial will start Monday with a likely lengthy and contentious process to select 12 jurors and their alternates.
Political questions
The pool of more than 100 ordinary citizens convened by judge Juan Merchan must answer a questionnaire including checks on whether they have been members of far-right groups, like the Proud Boys, which led a mob of Trump supporters in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol to stop certification of Biden’s election.
The actual charges, however, revolve around the nitty gritty of finance laws.
Prosecutors say Trump covered up $130,000 of payments that his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen made to porn star Stormy Daniels shortly before the 2016 election, to ensure her silence about an extramarital sexual encounter a decade earlier.
Trump has denied the encounter happened, and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
His lawyers have said the payments were legitimate legal expenses.
A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023 over the alleged payments made to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, with the ex-president charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records.
He denies the charges and could use the trial, scheduled for up to two months, as a prominent platform to decry “lawfare” and election interference by his political opponents. Trump also says that he will not get a fair trial in heavily Democratic New York.
Gag orderHowever, the real estate magnate and longtime reality TV show star is using the limelight as an unlikely campaign boost—touting himself as a victim and using outrage among his supporters to fundraise.
Even if convicted, he would be able to appeal and would not be barred from continuing to run or even being elected president on Nov. 5.
Trump’s other three criminal cases—centered on his alleged hoarding of top-secret documents in Florida after he left the White House and his involvement in attempts to overturn the 2020 election—all face multiple delays.
In the New York case, Trump has repeatedly failed to secure meaningful delays and Merchan has signaled he will run the trial with a firm hand.
Last week the judge extended a gag order to prevent Trump from attacking those involved in the trial, widening it to cover family members of the judge and Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg. —reports from AFP, REUTERS
