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full screen The likely Republican presidential candidate, ex-president Donald Trump, photographed after an earlier deliberation in court in New York. Archive image. Photo: Frank Franklin/AP/TT
After countless attempts to have the trial canceled, postponed and moved, the time has come.
Now begins the historic process that will determine whether ex-president Donald Trump is guilty of crimes through, among other things, payments to a porn actress.
“It’s going to be hell.” The subject line of Donald Trump’s fundraising email, in which he appeals for money for the upcoming “hoax trial”, says a lot about the former president’s attitude.
On Monday, the first ever criminal trial against a former president of the United States begins: The state trial in New York where Trump is charged with 34 counts of, among other things, accounting violations. During the six- to eight-week process, Trump is expected to sit in the courtroom four days a week, time he would probably rather spend campaigning for the fall presidential election.
“The Democrats are drooling. They believe that pictures of me in court will be the nail in the coffin for the Maga movement,” writes the ex-president in the email.
Shrinking wire
The question is whether he is right. In recent weeks, media coverage of the four criminal charges Trump faces — and his repeated attempts to delay them — has increased markedly. Meanwhile, his lead over President Joe Biden in the polls has shrunk from about 2 to 0.2 percent, according to Real Clear Politics.
Trump is likely to be the Republican candidate in the presidential election. But if he is convicted of crimes before the election, it would represent something of a red line for voters in key swing states, polls show. That is one of the reasons for the Trump side’s intensive attempts to delay or invalidate the trials.
The process in New York, which is now under enormous security pressure, has been described as the least serious. It mainly concerns events during the 2016 election campaign, that is, before Trump became president.
Got gagged
However, the details are eyebrow-raising. The focus is on payments to porn actress Stephanie Clifford (Stormy Daniels) and Playboy model Karen McDougal of $130,000 and $150,000, respectively, to keep quiet about extramarital affairs with Trump. Money also allegedly went to a doorman at the Trump Tower property, who claimed to have information about an illegitimate child.
The payments were made through Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen, according to the indictment. Cohen was sentenced in 2018 to three years in prison for the payments, tax evasion and lying to Congress. In court, Cohen produced a refund check from Trump and said the president ordered him to lie.
Trump has come down hard on both District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan on social media. This has led to him being charged with a legal “gag”, that is, a ban on speaking about witnesses, court staff and the jury in the case.
FACT Background: The other criminal charges against Donald Trump
Here’s a summary of the three major criminal charges brought against former President Donald Trump, in addition to the New York accounting case. In addition to them, a number of civil and financial disputes are ongoing. Trump denies wrongdoing in all cases.
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Washington DC
Donald Trump has been indicted for his attempts to have the results of the presidential election annulled. The federal indictment is considered the heaviest of the ongoing lawsuits, the four indictments have bearing on the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021. If convicted, Trump faces a maximum of 20 years in prison. The investigation is led by special prosecutor Jack Smith. The Trump side claims immunity from prosecution and that the then-president was only exercising his freedom of speech when speaking about the election results.
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Florida
The former president was indicted last summer on 40 counts, mostly related to his handling of classified documents stored at the Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, after his time in the White House. Some charges relate to Trump’s refusal to return material and that he allegedly ordered the destruction of surveillance footage. This investigation is also federal and is led by Jack Smith. The trial is scheduled for May but will apparently be postponed. If Trump is convicted, he risks a maximum of 10 years in prison.
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Georgia
The state indictment also includes a charge under Georgia’s Special Extortion Act (called Rico) against 19 people, including Donald Trump. In addition, at least nine other charges have been brought against the former president, mainly for trying to overturn the election results there. At the center is the phone call Trump made to the state election officer Brad Raffensperger after the 2020 election, where he was asked to “find the 11,780 votes” required for a Trump victory over Joe Biden. Trump, who claims he has done nothing wrong, faces a maximum of 20 years in prison.
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