Donald Trump will make history this Monday as the first vice president to be tried on criminal charges, a special moment for American politics, the presidential election and Trump himself.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, must be present for the entire trial, which could last up to eight weeks. He pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison. The trial will begin this Monday with jury selection.
The charges relate to Trump’s first run for president, in 2016. Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office allege that he participated in a scheme with the his lawyer, Michael Cohen and the editor of the National Enquirer to suppress scandalous stories about him leading up to election day.
One of those stories involved porn star Stormy Daniels, who said she met Trump in 2006. Trump has denied the allegation and Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016 for her to be silent about the accusation. After he was elected, Trump returned payments to Cohen that were recorded as legal fees at his firm, documents that the prosecutor claims were falsified to keep the hush money payments secret.
Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong and dismissed the case as part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him, a claim he has used to galvanize his supporters and raised millions of dollars in fundraising for his campaign.
The criminal case was the first of four filed against Trump in four different jurisdictions and is the only case that will definitely go to trial before the election.
The trial begins with jury selection.
Because Trump must be in court four days a week (the trial does not take place on Wednesdays), his ability to campaign in person is limited to times when court is not in session the session. But as he has done in his previous tests in New York, Trump is likely to speak publicly during recesses and after the day’s session adjourned.
The start of the trial comes despite several desperate attempts by Trump to delay it, including filing an appeal accusing Judge Juan Merchán of conflict between his involvement because his daughter’s media company works for Democratic candidates, arguing that the partial silence order from the judge is against him. It’s “unconstitutional” and he says it’s impossible for him to get a fair trial in Manhattan with so much advance publicity about the case.
The district attorney’s office responded in a court filing that “Given the sheer size of New York County, it’s absurd [Trump] asserting that it will be impossible or even impossible to find twelve fair and impartial jurors, and other substitutes, from more than a million people.”
The jury selection process is expected to take a week or two. Two sources with direct knowledge of the situation told NBC News that 6,000 jurors were summoned to Manhattan criminal courts this week, 2,000 more than in a typical week.
2024-04-15 14:00:35
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