It is the first criminal trial against a former US president. Trump suffered a defeat right at the start when Judge Juan Merchan rejected a defense request that Merchan withdraw from the proceedings because of bias.
“We’re not going to get a fair trial,” Trump said outside the Manhattan courtroom on Monday after jury selection ended for the day. Trump is accused in the lawsuit of forging business documents to cover up a payment to former porn actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election. Stormy Daniels was thus silenced about an alleged sexual adventure that she said she had had with Trump ten years earlier.
The 77-year-old likely Republican presidential candidate has pleaded not guilty. Trump also accuses Judge Merchan of bias because his daughter worked for a consulting firm with ties to the Democratic Party. Merchan rejected this at the start of the trial: “We want justice to happen, that’s all we want,” he said.
The judge also warned Trump not to disrupt the proceedings with aggressive online messages, as he has in the past. The defendant followed the proceedings with a mostly dark expression on his face. According to a reporter from the New York Times who was sitting near the ex-president, he also appeared to be falling asleep at times.
Trump also criticized the judge for denying his request to attend a Supreme Court hearing next week. Trump argues that as a former president he should have immunity from prosecution – the country’s highest court will consider the issue on April 25. “The judge will not allow me to escape this scam, this scam trial,” Trump said. “We have a real problem with this judge.”
Before entering the courtroom in the Manhattan district, the right-wing populist once again denounced the trial as “political persecution”. Trump denounces all charges against him as politically motivated maneuvers intended to prevent him from returning to the White House. In the election on November 5th, he wants to run again for the Republicans against incumbent Joe Biden from the Democrats.
Trump faces criminal charges in three other cases. Two of them are about his attempts to subsequently overturn his 2020 election defeat against Biden, and the third case is about taking secret government documents to his private estate in the state of Florida. However, it is uncertain when the trials for these three cases could begin.
In the hush money trial, Trump is accused of falsifying business documents in order to keep secret the hush money payment of $130,000 (122,000 euros at today’s rate) to Stormy Daniels. According to her own account, the porn actress had sex with Trump in 2006 while he was already married to his third wife Melania. Trump has denied any sexual contact with Stormy Daniels.
Hush money is generally not illegal in the United States. But the indictment does not relate to the hush money itself, but rather to the fact that Trump is said to have disguised the payment in 34 cases by forging business documents.
At the start of the trial it was also about which evidence should be admitted. The prosecution wants to paint a broader picture of Trump’s treatment of women based on the Stormy Daniels case. The infamous recording was played in front of the judge in which Trump once boasted that he could grab women’s crotch at any time with impunity.
Trump remained silent while this recording was played. The judge ruled that the content of this recording could be discussed in the trial, but that the audio recording itself should not be played to the jury. At the beginning of the trial, another recording was also played in which Trump boasts of his good treatment of women. “That’s true,” the defendant murmured from his seat between his lawyers.
In the first phase of the hush money trial, the twelve jurors are to be selected. This is a complicated process that can take up to two weeks. In total, the process should take around two months.
Each of the 34 charges is punishable by up to four years in prison. However, experts say it is unlikely that Trump would actually have to serve prison time since it would be his first criminal conviction. A prison sentence could be suspended.
The process takes place under strong security precautions. Small groups of Trump supporters and opponents demonstrated around the courthouse on Monday. A flag with the slogan “Trump or Death” could be seen among the ex-president’s fans.
If Trump is convicted, it would not prevent him from running for president or from returning to the White House if he wins the election. The U.S. Constitution generally does not prohibit convicted felons from running for the highest office in the state. However, the outcome of the trial could influence some voters’ voting behavior.
