Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial in his hush-money case starts in earnest Monday morning with opening statements that mark a momentous day in US history.
Trump is the first American president, former or sitting, to face a criminal trial and the proceedings also play out against a 2024 presidential race in which Trump is almost certain to be the Republican nominee to face Joe Biden.
A jury of seven men and five women will weigh whether Trump’s alleged efforts to conceal damaging information about extramarital sex, to protect his bid in the 2016 election, were illicit. Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in spring 2023.
Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg’s case hinges on a $130,000 payment that Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, made to Stormy Daniels, an adult film star, to keep her story under wraps. Bragg contends that Trump masked the true nature of the payment in business records by describing them as lawful legal expenses.
Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018, is expected to be one of the prosecution’s star witnesses. Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels and insists payments to Cohen were above-board legal expenses.
The New York City case is just one of several criminal proceedings Trump faces. He faces federal charges in relation to the January 6 insurrection, as well as his handling of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home. In Georgia, he faces state-level charges related to allegedly trying to subvert 2020 election results.
Trump is nonetheless poised to land the Republican presidential nomination this summer after easily defeating a swathe of his party rivals. In head to head polls against Biden Trump often narrowly leads and he is currently performing strongly in most of the key swing states that either candidate needs to win the White House.
The first week of Trump’s trial was characterized by comedy and, at one point, tragic chaos. Over four days of jury selection, Trump had to listen to his fellow New Yorkers talk about why they couldn’t be fair jurors in his trial.
But on Friday afternoon, right as the six alternate jurors were chosen, a man set himself on fire across from the 100 Centre Street courthouse. The man, who succumbed to his injuries, left behind pamphlets and an online screed in which he outlined numerous conspiracy theories that seemed to have little specifically to do with Trump but were more broadly anti-government and anti-tech industry, among other targets.