First criminal case of ex-president begins today: Inside Trump’s NYC hush money trial
A hush money payout made to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election will be back in the spotlight as Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial kicks off this week. APA hush money payout made to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 election will be back in the spotlight as Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial kicks off this week. The proceedings in Manhattan Supreme Court — which start Monday with jury selection — will mark the first-ever criminal trial of a US president.
Trump, 77, has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of fudging business records to cover up the payoff.
He’s also denied having sex with Daniels.
The 2024 Republican presidential hopeful claims that the case brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg — an elected Democrat in a borough Trump lost in landslides in 2016 and 2020 — is a politically motivated revenge plot.
What is Trump charged with?
In New York, it’s perfectly legal for private citizens to pay someone off to bury a sex scandal.
But business owners aren’t allowed to lie on company records — and that’s what Trump allegedly did throughout 2017 by trying to hide his tracks.
Trump is charged with what’s called “falsifying business records” by allegedly lying that he was reimbursing his then-fixer Michael Cohen for “legal services” when he was actually paying him back for wiring Daniels the cash.
How serious of a crime is ‘falsifying business records’?
Trump once joked that his supporters are so loyal that “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I still wouldn’t lose any voters.”
These alleged crimes aren’t at that level, or at the level of sexual assault, which another Manhattan jury has found Trump liable for in a civil case.
But they’re still serious.
Falsifying business records in order to conceal or carry out another crime is a felony.
Each count of first-degree falsifying business records is punishable by up to four years in prison — though it’s not clear if prosecutors would ask to send Trump behind bars if he’s convicted.
Bragg says the $130,000 hush money payment dwarfed the $2,700 cap on individual campaign donations, and breached a local election law which makes it a crime to conspire to illegally promote a candidate.
Can Trump still run for president if found guilty?
Trump could still run for and win the presidency even if he’s convicted, legal experts say.
But a guilty verdict would pose a new challenge for a self-described branding whiz who has splashed his name on buildings, golf courses — and even sneakers — in his decades of celebrity life.
Trump has been able so far to rally his supporters behind him as he faces 88 criminal charges spread across indictments in four states, casting himself as the victim of political “witch hunts.”
But it’s unclear what voters would think of Trump if he were to become a convicted felon.
What will Trump’s defense be?
Trump has a right to have his lawyers aggressively grill the DA’s witnesses — who are expected to include both Daniels and Cohen — and to testify in his own defense if he’d like.
He’ll likely take a two-pronged approach — making some arguments designed to attack the legal merits of the case, and other barbs aimed at the court of public opinion as he pitches himself to voters.
Trump has already claimed that he can’t get a fair trial in Democrat-leaning Manhattan, that the felonies he’s charged with are “not even crimes,” and that Justice Juan Merchan “hates” him and shouldn’t be overseeing the case.
In court, his lawyers will likely argue Trump did not have “intent” to cover up the payout.
They’ll also urge jurors to discount testimony about Trump’s mindset at the time from Cohen, who has admitted lying to a federal judge while pleading guilty in 2018 to campaign finance violations for arranging the payoff.