Trump to Stand Trial in Manhattan Over Stormy Daniels Payments

U.S. Former President Donald Trump
U.S. Former President Donald Trump

United States – Donald Trump, the first former US president who, will be tried by the courts beginning on Monday in Manhattan in a case over payments to a former adult actress, Stormy Daniels. The US election is not far away in less than seven months as he seeks to return to the White House again.

Introduction

Trump (77 years old) has three other criminal matters that have not progressed beyond legal running and may or may not be decided before the 2024 election in which he will challenge Biden, who is running as the Democrat President. His acts of defeat in the 2020 election and another of classified records saving after leaving the presidency in 2021 form two of the other cases, as reported by Reuters.

The Charges

He is charged with making false records with Michael Cohen attempting to hide a USD 130,000 payment he arranged to be made by his then-lawyer and fixer to Daniels days before the 2016 presidential race in order to buy her silence about a 2006 sexual encounter she claims they had at a Lake Tahoe hotel.

Legal Maneuvers

Trump has denied any foul play. He was indicted for 34 counts of falsification of business records in 2022 in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, which took place in New York State court. An acquittal does not mean that a future candidacy or the election of Trump is barred in any way.

He describes many criminal cases against him to undermine him politically, but he is even warning that he will target the Justice Department as a tool against political opponents and Biden if he retakes the presidency.

Many lawyers have said in reports that the case without a straightforward theft is not as serious as others have been.

“There’s going to be an argument from the defense that this is a politically motivated prosecution, and if they had a real crime, they’d have brought a real crime, and instead, they have little notations on a checkbook,” said Adam Kaufmann, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

Bragg has noted the case is about attempting an improper attempt to rig the 2016 presidential election by hiding a sensitive story that may as well harm Trump’s political career. According to Trump’s attorneys, the money paid by Trump to Daniels was not intended for illegal campaign funding.

A survey published by Reuters revealed that about two-thirds of candidates regarded the accusations in the case as at least somewhat serious. One-fourth of Republicans and half of independents asserted that they would not support Trump if he were found guilty of a felony crime.

The selection of a jury from among the heavily Democratic Manhattan residents may take several days. This will be followed by opening statements and the testimony of the witnesses during the trial, which the Honorable Mr. Juan Merchan is presiding over.

Daniels and Cohen are included in the panels of witnesses to be heard. Trump has stated that he intends to testify in his own defense, a tactic that is very risky for him since it gives the prosecutors a chance to put him under searching cross-examination.

The “Catch and Kill” Scheme

Prosecutors had said that the payment made to Daniels, whose original full name is Stephanie Clifford, was part of a larger effort, known as “catch and kill,” to pay off individuals who may hold embarrassing information about Trump, to stop them from spreading it, before the 2016 election in which Trump won, and Clinton lost respectively.

Political Ramifications

Trump is attributed to making fraudulent entries when claiming reimbursements to Cohen as monthly legal fees in the books of his New York-based real estate firm. In addition, a forgery of business records in New York State carries a penalty of up to four years in prison. Still, many defendants found guilty of this crime are usually fined or put on probation.

As per the Trump defense, the payments made to Cohen in 2017 while he was president of the United States were for supplying legal services. Trump regards Cohen as a “serial liar,” and this defense is to be used to attack his credibility. Cohen was found guilty back in 2018 to campaign finance law violations and testified that the president instructed him to pay the adult film star’s lawyer. It is worth noting that the federal prosecutors who made that case did not charge Trump.

It is highly likely that Trump will attend the trial unless he requests an excuse. That could accept his inability to travel to the more than a dozen closely divided swing states expected to determine the election’s final result; the president has used his legal woes to generate more support among his fans. His continuous courtroom appearances can work more or less as campaign events on a daily basis, as reported by Reuters.

Last week, Trump’s attorneys filed three last-minute requests to postpone the trial. Judges rejected all of them.