CNN
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Donald Trump will make history when he arrives in lower Manhattan on Monday morning as the first former president to stand trial on felony charges.
Despite a blitz of last-minute attempts to scuttle the trial, jury selection is expected to begin and continue until a panel of 12 New Yorkers and alternates is assembled, a process that could take at least a week.
The landmark trial centers on a potential cover-up of a sex scandal that took place just days before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors allege Trump falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of secret cash payments made to sway the election outcome . Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied having an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.
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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a news conference following the impeachment of former President Donald Trump, April 4, 2023, in New York.
The case will be a major test for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, as it may be the only one of Trump’s four criminal cases to go before a jury before Election Day. Trump will trade his campaign for the courtroom, where the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is expected to be four days a week for the next two months.
The former president has used his court appearances to drum up supporters for his campaign, but despite his showmanship, the stakes are high for Trump. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. If convicted, Judge Juan Murchan, the no-nonsense judge overseeing the trial, could sentence Trump to probation or a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years in state prison on each count. The president does not have the right to pardon state crimes.
The trial will bring witnesses from Trump’s inner circle against the former president, including his ex-lawyer and ex-broker Michael Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance charges; longtime friend and former CEO of the company that publishes the National Enquirer, David Packer, who executed catch-and-kill deals; and campaign confidante Hope Hicks.
It will also take the jury to the Oval Office, where prosecutors say then-President Trump signed off on the cover-up, which involved falsifying business records — invoices, ledger entries and checks — to reimburse Cohen for bogus legal services. And it may contain at least one audio recording of Trump and Cohen allegedly discussing a capture-and-kill deal.
Despite the salacious nature of the allegations, much testimony is likely to focus on simple back-office filing. Prosecutors said there are 18 witnesses they could call to introduce financial documents in the case if both sides fail to agree on their authenticity.
Prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump falsified business records with the intent to commit or conceal another crime, but they do not have to prove that Trump committed that crime. The prosecution’s theory is that the second offense may have violated federal and state election laws or state tax laws for the way Cohen’s refund was processed.
Trump’s lawyers kept their defense close to the vest, but in court filings they indicated they planned to attack the credibility of Daniels and Cohen and paint them as liars motivated by malice and money.
His legal team is led by Todd Blanche and Emile Beauvais, two former New York federal prosecutors, and Susan Necheles, a veteran criminal defense attorney with extensive experience in New York and before Murchan. Necheles represented Trump’s business in the 2022 tax fraud trial. The company was convicted.
Outside lawyers closely following the case say Trump is likely to argue that the hush money payments are legal and distance Trump from the payoff scheme and the accounting kept by his trusted officials. They may also argue that the payments were made to prevent embarrassment to the Trump family and not to influence the election.
Trump’s lawyers have said they plan to call at least two witnesses in their case: Bradley Smith, a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, and Alan Garten, a senior Trump Organization legal official. Murchan has limited Smith’s testimony to describing the role and function of the FEC and defining certain terms, such as campaign contributions, but has blocked him from testifying about whether the law was broken in this case.
Trump may also testify in his own defense. He has testified in two recent civil trials after regretting not taking the stand in a previous civil trial, but the stakes are higher in a criminal case.
The janitor, the model and the porn star
The trial goes back to the final days of the 2016 presidential election, when Stormy Daniels was about to go public with allegations that she had sex with Trump in 2006 at a Lake Tahoe golf tournament. The Access Hollywood tape of Trump on a hot microphone speaking graphically about his penchant for groping women had just been released, sending panic into his campaign as it tried to limit the impact on voters, prosecutors said.
Trump allies scrambled to pay Daniels to prevent her from speaking, the indictment said.
It was the third catch-and-kill deal that came after a key meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015 between Trump, Cohen and Packer. At the meeting, which took place a month after Trump announced his candidacy, Packer agreed to be the campaign’s “eyes and ears” to watch for negative stories, according to the indictment.
In 2015, American Media, then the publisher of the National Enquirer, paid a janitor to bury a fake story, and the following year, the publisher paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy girlfriend who said she had sex with Trump while he was was married, $150,000 for her silence and offered her two magazine cover stories.
Two months later, on October 7, the Access Hollywood tape was released. On October 27, 2016, Cohen transferred the money to Daniels, and 12 days later, Trump won the election.
Prosecutors say Trump agreed to reinstate Cohen, who worked out the details with Alan Weiselberg, the Trump Organization’s former longtime chief financial officer. As part of the alleged scheme, the Trump Organization paid Cohen $420,000 in reimbursement, some political work, taxes and a bonus. According to prosecutors, the Trump Organization noted on Cohen’s checks and in its books that the payments were legal expenses under a retainer agreement.
