On Monday, Donald Trump made history again, becoming the first former president to go to trial on criminal charges.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felonies for falsifying company records in an attempt to conceal a $130,000 payment to an adult film star Stormy Daniels. That payment, according to prosecutors and Daniels, was made to keep her quiet about an alleged extramarital affair she had with Trump prior to the 2016 presidential election. While paying hush money is not itself a crime, it rises to that level when it is made to enable other crimes, such as violating tax and campaign finance laws.
As he has done with all criminal and civil cases brought against him, Trump has proclaimed his innocence on all charges and also denies having sex with Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
When will the trial take place and how long will it take?
Jury selection began Monday at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse in New York City. The trial will take place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday and is expected to last six to eight weeks.
Will the trial be televised?
No. Reporters are allowed into the courtroom and may post their observations live, but news photographers are only allowed “45 seconds into the courtroom before each hearing,” according to the New York Times.
Will Daniels testify?
Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the trial, ruled last month that Daniels could testify in the case, and she seems more than willing to share her story.
“I am absolutely ready. I’ve been ready,” Daniels said in an appearance on ABC’s last month The view. “I enjoy the day that I get to meet him and speak my truth.”
Who else will take the persecution’s stand?
Here’s a who’s who of the witnesses Bragg’s team is expected to call at trial:
David Pecker: The former CEO of American Media (AMI), owner of the National Enquirer, Pecker agreed to pay sources for potentially damaging stories about Trump, and then bury the stories – not print them – in what is known as a ‘ catch and kill scheme.
Karen McDougal: McDougal, a former Playboy model who also claims she had an extramarital affair with Trump, received a $150,000 payment from AMI for the rights to tell her story. The story never appeared and McDougal was not allowed to publish it elsewhere.
Michael Cohen: Trump’s former lawyer has told prosecutors that he arranged the $130,000 payment from Trump to Daniels and was repaid in a manner that would conceal the transaction from state officials and the public.
Hope Hicks: Hicks was Trump’s press secretary in 2016 when the payment was made to Daniels. She has been interviewed by prosecutors about phone calls she may have participated in between Trump and Cohen about the payment.
Rhona Graff: Graff is a senior VP at the Trump Organization and executive assistant to Trump.
Madeleine Westerhout: Westerhout was Trump’s director of Oval Office Operations.
Deborah Tarasoff: Tarasoff, a former Trump Organization employee in the company’s accounting department, was able to testify about Trump’s accounting.
Jeffrey McConney: McConney is a former executive of the Trump Organization who has knowledge of the company’s financial dealings. He also testified in the civil financial fraud trial.
Can the appeal process still be postponed or canceled?
In the week leading up to the trial alone, three different appeals court judges rejected Trump’s lawyers’ requests to delay the start of the trial. Trump was able to delay the trial by nearly a month after his lawyers argued they needed more time to review evidence submitted by federal prosecutors, but his lawyers were unsuccessful in at least 11 other appeals.
Trump still has outstanding appeals, including whether Merchan will be allowed to oversee the trial and whether his silence order, which prevented Trump from attacking family members of court staff, went too far. But after a string of court losses over the past week, none postponed the start of the trial on Monday.
Should Trump appear in court?
Under New York law, criminal defendants are required to be present in court for the duration of the trial in which they are charged. That means the days Trump may have spent campaigning for president will be spent in the lower Manhattan courtroom. However, the judge may grant some leeway if Trump has a valid reason to miss a particular court hearing.
What does Trump say about the charges?
Trump has been outspoken in his views that the hush money case is a “witch hunt,” that Merchan “hates” him and that Bragg is “racist” for filing charges.
Trump has also denied having a sexual relationship with Daniels, pointing to a statement she signed in 2018 in which she also denies having sex with Trump and ever being paid to keep quiet about it.
Daniels has since stated that she was coerced into signing the letter and that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen drafted it.
Could Trump go to jail if found guilty?
Each of the 34 charges against Trump is a Class E felony — the lowest category. All told, he faces a maximum prison sentence of four years if convicted. If Trump is found guilty of all or some of the criminal offenses, it will be up to the jury to decide how he will be punished. Many legal experts believe that jail time is unlikely in this case.
When are Trump’s other criminal trials expected to begin and how do they compare to the hush money case?
Overall, Trump faces the prospect of four different criminal trials. None of the other three have been scheduled yet, but the judges are expected to make a decision in those cases in the coming months.
Two of the cases – the Georgia election interference and the January 6 federal election interference – involve Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election while he was still in office. The classified documents case involves Trump’s handling of classified materials after he left the White House and his alleged efforts to block federal investigators from retrieving them.
The three other cases each carry a much heavier prison sentence upon conviction than the hush money case.
Can he still run for office or be elected president if he is found guilty?
Yes. Even if Trump is convicted in the hush money trial and sentenced to prison, there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that prevents him from running for president behind bars.
Do you have more questions?
Send us your questions about the case here. We will collect them and try to provide answers in a future post.
