WASHINGTON Days of the year already Donald Trump has hit the courtrooms back and forth.
First, he had to go there to dispute the criminal charges brought against him.
Since then, Trump has sat on the dock in civil cases, which have resulted in hefty compensation claims.
Now the trial, which starts on Monday, is a different story.
It’s really the first time.
Never before in US history has a former president been brought before a judge and jury to face criminal charges.
The court will either acquit Trump of the charges or convict him of a criminal.
If the sentence has to be passed, it will either send him to prison or settle for a lighter sentence.
Lawsuits have gained popularity
Politically, the situation is also tickling.
The four criminal charges that have been filed so far have boosted the victim Trump’s popularity to a new rise and to a fine pre-favorite position in the fall presidential elections.
Will his position be further strengthened during the trial, which is expected to last almost two months, or will this prove the beginning of the end for the controversial figure?
There is no answer to these questions yet.
Meeting in a hotel room
First, there must be a trial in a case that dates back to 2006, when a charity golf tournament was organized in Lake Tahoe, popular with wealthy vacationers.
There, Trump met a porn star who had successfully created a career by Stormy Danielsproperly named Stephanie Clifford.
There is a photo as proof of this.
What happened after that, we only have Daniels’ own, sometimes unnecessarily detailed description.
Daniels has said in his life story published in 2018 that he had sex with the future president in his hotel room.
He has described Akti and Trump’s anatomy with such precision that it makes him either a skilled and truthful writer or a brilliant liar.
Did a crime happen?
Whether the events are true or not, having a one night stand or cheating on your wife is not a crime.
Paying $130,000 to prevent an affair from being revealed, right before the 2016 presidential election, might already meet the hallmarks of a minor crime.
And if an attempt is made to hide the actual purpose of the payment with fake accounting, a minor crime can become a more serious crime.
This is exactly what Donald Trump is the Manhattan District Attorney, by Alvin Bragg according to guilty.
Trump has denied a relationship with Daniels, but acknowledged the payment.
He has described it as a normal problem for rich people and claimed that the payments had nothing to do with the presidential election and therefore no crime related to election financing has been committed.
According to the experts interviewed by , the evidence of the payment is clear. For the prosecutors, the problem is that the charge itself is considered a featherweight.
When Trump’s other charges talk about activities approaching a coup and the illegal possession of top-secret military documents, possible violations of the election law and accounting rules seem like pretty poor sins.
In the hands of the jury
The New York jury, even if there aren’t many Trump friends there, might feel that a fly has been made into a bull.
Experts consider a conviction very possible, but a prison sentence unlikely.
The verdict would not formally prevent Trump from running for office in the fall presidential election.
It is also likely that he would appeal against the sentence and that the processing of the appeal would stretch beyond the election.
The hopes of Trump’s opponents that the former president’s trip to the White House will be interrupted by the judiciary do not seem realistic in the trial that begins on Monday.
The problem for them is that the porn star case may be the only one where the trial will be held before the elections.
And if Trump is elected to the White House, the progress of any legal process is no longer certain.
Voters will follow
There remains the question of voters.
In a hypocritical country like the United States, a porn star has enough work if he wants to garner sympathy from the nation.
However, it is possible that, for example, suburban educated women who play an important role in elections will increasingly turn their backs on Trump due to the nature of the case.
According to polls, more than half of voters say they would not vote for Trump if he is convicted of a crime.
On the other hand, only a third consider the charges to be very serious.
The legal battle that is starting now is historic, but its effects on the elections are unclear in advance.
Ahead is a step into the unknown.