Trump makes history with New York hush money criminal trial
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[April 15, 2024]
By Luc Cohen and Jack Queen
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Donald Trump becomes the first former president to
face a criminal trial on Monday when jury selection begins in Manhattan
in a case involving hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels, with
the U.S. election looming in less than seven months as he seeks a return
to the White House.
Trump, 77, has three other criminal cases that are bogged down by legal
wrangling and may not occur before the election in which he is the
Republican candidate challenging Democratic President Joe Biden. Two of
the other cases concern his attempts to overturn his 2020 election
defeat and one involves his retention of classified documents after
leaving office in 2021.
He is accused of falsifying records to cover up a $130,000 payment he
arranged to be made by his then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen to
Daniels in the waning days of the 2016 presidential campaign to buy her
silence about a 2006 sexual encounter she has said she had with him at a
Lake Tahoe hotel.
Trump has denied any such relationship. He pleaded not guilty last year
to 34 counts of falsification of business records in the case brought by
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, in New York state
court. A conviction would not prevent Trump from running for or taking
office.
He has painted all the criminal cases against him as intended to harm
him politically - even as he warns that he would seek to turn the
Justice Department on political adversaries including Biden if he
regains the presidency.
Some legal experts have said the case, with its focus on an extramarital
relationship, lacks the gravitas of Trump's other indictments.
"There's going to be an argument from the defense that this is a
politically motivated prosecution, and if they had a real crime they'd
have brought a real crime, and instead they have little notations on a
checkbook," said Adam Kaufmann, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan
district attorney's office.
Bragg has argued that the case is about an unlawful scheme to corrupt
the 2016 election by burying a scandalous story that would have harmed
Trump's campaign. Trump's lawyers have said the payment to Daniels did
not amount to an illegal campaign contribution.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll published last week found that nearly two in three
voters found the charges in the case at least somewhat serious. One in
four Republicans and half of independents said they would not vote for
Trump if he were convicted of a felony.
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A combination photo shows adult film actress Stephanie Clifford,
also known as Stormy Daniels speaking in New York City, and then-
U.S. President Donald Trump speaking in Washington, Michigan, U.S.
on April 16, 2018 and April 28, 2018 respectively. . REUTERS/Brendan
McDermid (L) REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Choosing a jury from a pool of people from heavily Democratic
Manhattan could take several days, to be followed by opening
statements and witness testimony in the trial presided over by
Justice Juan Merchan.
Daniels and Cohen are among the witnesses expected to testify. Trump
has said he plans to testify in his own defense, a risky proposition
that would open him up to probing cross-examination by prosecutors.
'CATCH AND KILL'
Prosecutors have said the payment to Daniels, whose real name is
Stephanie Clifford, was part of a broader "catch and kill" scheme to
pay off people with potentially negative information about Trump to
keep quiet before the election in which Trump defeated Democrat
Hillary Clinton.
Trump is accused of falsely recording reimbursements to Cohen as
monthly legal retainer fees in his New York-based real estate
company's books. Falsifying business records in New York is a felony
punishable by up to four years in prison, though many defendants
convicted of that charge have been sentenced to fines or probation.
Trump's defense has argued that Trump's payments to Cohen in 2017,
while he was president, were for legal services. Trump has called
Cohen a "serial liar" and his lawyers are expected to attack his
credibility at trial. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating
campaign finance law and testified that Trump directed him to pay
off Daniels. The federal prosecutors who brought that case did not
charge Trump.
Trump will be required to attend the trial unless he requests an
exemption. While that could limit Trump's ability to travel to the
half dozen closely divided swing states that are expected to
determine the election's outcome, he has used his legal woes to
rally his supporters. His daily courtroom appearances could become
the equivalent of campaign stops.
Trump's lawyers lodged three last-minute bids to delay the trial
last week. All were rejected by judges.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jack Queen in New York; Writing by Andy
Sullivan; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Will Dunham)
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