NEW YORK – The trial of former President Donald Trump began Monday in a Lower Manhattan courtroom, marking the for the first time in US history that criminal proceedings have been initiated against a former president.
Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, appeared in a New York state court where he is accused of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal involving a porn star.
The case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is one of four state and federal charges brought against the former president, but delays in the other cases mean it could be the only one to go to trial before the November election, greatly increasing its potential political impact.
Jury selection began Monday afternoon and is expected to take about two weeks.
But before the potential jurors were brought into the courtroom, Judge Juan Merchan announced the decisions on several motions.
Merchan said he would reject a motion by Trump’s defense team citing alleged conflicts of interest involving the judge’s family and calling for Trump to resign from the case.
“There is no agenda here,” Merchan said, adding, “We want to follow the law. We want justice to prevail.”
However, Merchan said he would not allow prosecutors to present evidence to support allegations that Trump committed sexual assault, calling the allegations “rumors.”
Bragg’s team wanted to present the allegations made in the run-up to the 2016 election to the jury to support their thesis that Trump tried to cover up evidence of an affair for fear of losing the support of female voters.
Merchan also said he would not allow the jury to hear the “Access Hollywood” tape, but prosecutors could exploit comments from Trump heard on the tape as evidence. In the recording, which surfaced shortly before the 2016 election, Trump brags about grabbing women’s genitals, adding, “When you’re a star, they let you do that.”
Prosecutors on Monday asked Merchan to punish Trump for violating an April 1 news blackout imposed by the judge. In recent social media posts, Trump attacked his former fixer Michael Cohen and porn star Stormy Daniels.
Merchan said he would hear arguments on the issue on April 23.
Cohen, a former lawyer who fell out with Trump, is expected to be a key witness in the case, and Daniels may also testify. Defense attorneys have not yet said whether Trump will testify in his own defense.
Payments to Daniels
At the heart of the case are payments totaling $130,000 that Cohen made to Daniels in the final weeks of the 2016 election campaign. Cohen admitted in his confession that the payments were aimed at buying Daniels’ silence about an affair she said she had with Trump ten years earlier.
Trump is charged with 34 felonies and faces up to four years in prison if convicted, but Merchan could also sentence him to probation with no prison time.
Legal experts have noted that Bragg faces a major challenge: In New York state, falsifying business records is a misdemeanor, not a crime. However, it becomes a felony if the falsification is done to cover up another crime.
Bragg alleges that Trump planned to cover up violations of state and federal campaign finance laws. The payments, prosecutors say, were illegal and unreported donations to Trump’s campaign because if Daniels’ story became public, it could have damaged Trump’s image in the election.
Bragg also alleges that Trump intended to cover up a tax crime arising from the way Cohen was compensated for the payments to Daniels.
Prosecutors do not have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump committed these alleged crimes. But they must show that Trump intended to cover them up – something defense attorneys are likely to vigorously deny.
Political impact
The most significant impact of a Trump conviction could be political. Most polls currently give Trump a very narrow lead over President Joe Biden. But there are some Proof that if Trump were convicted of a crime, a diminutive but significant portion of the electorate would likely no longer support him as strongly.
While the charges in this case may seem both slippery and arid—prosecutors will produce reams of sometimes unrecognized corporate documents—prosecutors say they are actually about significant principles and that at their heart is a plan to undermine fair elections.
“This case is not just about hush money payments,” Norm Eisen, a legal expert and prominent Trump critic who was Democratic co-counsel on the House Judiciary Committee during Trump’s first impeachment trial, told reporters on Thursday. “It’s about Trump’s alleged actions to withhold information from voters in order to cover up election fraud.”
In a diminutive park in front of the criminal court in Manhattan, Trump supporters gathered on Monday to reaffirm their loyalty to the former president and to condemn the trial – as Trump himself has often done – as a politically motivated witch hunt.
“What is happening in this courtroom is a complete farce,” said Steve Merczynski of New York City, wearing a hand-embroidered scarf that read “MAGA again.”
“This is all being directed by the Biden administration,” Merczynski added. (There is no evidence that the Biden administration has influenced law enforcement.)
Another Trump supporter, Dion Cini, said he did not want to judge Trump’s personal life.
“I have been to Thailand three times,” said Cini, a New Yorker who was once exiled from Thailand. DisneyWorld for holding up a Trump 2020 flag on Splash Mountain. “What do you think I’m doing in Thailand? Just sitting on a chair? No, I’m going out, having fun and meeting women. That’s what we do as men.”
Among the few anti-Trump protesters was Marc Leavitt, who stood on a park bench and played the national anthem and other patriotic songs on a flute.
“I think the rule of law should be properly upheld, and that’s exactly what’s happening today,” Leavitt said. “And that’s a very good thing for America.”
