Hush Money: Trump Trial Begins Today
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Hush Money: Trump Trial Begins Today
By Roselyn James
On Monday, New York will begin jury selection for the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump, making him the first former President in American history.
The trial of the case involved payments given to an adult film actress before the election of 2016.
Trump, the 45th President of the United States, will face incumbent President Joe Biden in a rerun of the Presidential election in November.
As part of a plot involving his former Attorney Michael Cohen to hide the $130,000 pay-off given to Stormy Daniels, Trump is accused of 34 counts of falsifying business documents.
Daniels claimed that the payment was made to silence her regarding a 2006 affair she had with Trump. He denied having a sexual relationship with her, but he did acknowledge paying her on election eve of 2016 to end her “false and extortionist accusations.”
In an attempt to delay the hush money trial, Trump’s Lawyers tried multiple times without success. They have also employed the same strategy in the three other criminal charges that the former president is currently facing.
In the city of New York, which leans Democratic, the jury selection process can take several days, with hundreds of applicants eventually narrowed down to only 12 jurors and six alternates.
It is anticipated that Cohen and Daniels will testify on behalf of the prosecution, and the trial as a whole may go up to eight weeks.
Trump, who has entered not-guilty pleas to every allegation, could spend up to four years in prison if found guilty.
He assured reporters he was prepared to stand up for himself at a press conference held on Friday at his Florida club, Mar-a-Lago.
“I am giving testimony. “I speak the truth,” declared Trump, even though it was far from likely that the Republican real estate mogul would embark on such a risky legal maneuver.
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Trump’s Presidential Campaign would, in any event, clash with his legal duties. It is certain to create a frenzy of media coverage because he was made to be there each day of the historic trial.
There were many legal issues with Trump. His four criminal indictments in four different cities are the most serious. Aside from the New York case, two others address his purported attempts to hold onto power following Biden’s 2020 victory over him, and a third one has to do with keeping confidential papers after leaving government. There is no set start date for the other three trials.
Trump has suffered significant setbacks in two civil cases filed in New York. He and his organization are being accused of fraud in one case, and of defaming magazine columnist E Jean Carroll in another when he refuted her allegations of sexual assault.
In all the cases combined, Trump owes over half a billion dollars in court penalties. With no supporting documentation, Trump asserted the Democrats were persecuting him politically to prevent him from winning the presidency.
The Constitution did not bar a felon from seeking the presidency, even if he was found guilty. The battle between Trump and Biden is still quite close.
A New York Times and Siena College opinion survey issued over the weekend indicated that Trump had a 46 percent to 45 percent advantage over Biden.
