Trump faces a criminal trial - the first such experience for a former US president

2024-04-09 17:54:38, Kosova & Bota CNA

Trump faces a criminal trial - the first such experience for a former US

Donald Trump, next week, will become the first former president of the United States to face a criminal trial.

The case involves bribes paid to porn star Stormy Daniels.

It also carries major political and legal ramifications, as Trump will once again run for the White House in November's election.

The trial is expected to begin in Manhattan on April 15.

It's the first of four possible criminal trials Trump faces, but it could be the only one to take place before the Nov. 5 election.

Trump, 77, pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

Trump is accused of arranging a $130,000 payment from his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

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The payment was allegedly made to get Daniels to keep quiet about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump at a hotel in 2006.

Trump also allegedly falsified records to cover it up.

Denying any such meeting with the porn star, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, Trump said the payment was made to stop her "false and extortionate allegations".

Trump also faces federal charges in Washington and state charges in Georgia for trying to overturn the 2020 election, which was won by incumbent Joe Biden, as well as federal charges in Florida. for illegal possession of classified documents, after leaving office in 2021.

Trump pleaded not guilty to each case, while he described the charges as politically motivated.

Allegations in the Daniels bribery case are not new — news of her earnings made headlines as far back as 2018.

The US Department of Justice previously investigated the case, and Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to violating federal campaign finance law, proving that Trump orchestrated the payment to Daniels.

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Federal prosecutors decided not to charge Trump, ending their investigation in 2019.

But Bragg argued that the case is about Trump's attempt to corrupt the 2016 election, which he won against candidate Hillary Clinton, by buying the silence of people with potentially damaging information about him.

According to prosecutors, Cohen also arranged a payment to Playboy model Karen McDougal, who has also said she had sex with Trump - which Trump has denied.

In New York, falsifying business records to commit or conceal another crime is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison.

Following Bragg's indictment in April 2023, donations to Trump's campaign increased.

Contacted by Reuters news agency, his spokesman, Jason Miller, declined to comment on the trial.

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Some political strategists predict the potential conviction could hurt Trump in his presidential campaign.

Mary Anna Mancuso, a Republican strategist who does not support Trump, says that if he is convicted, it will be a "stark reality" that many voters will find hard to ignore.

"They will be forced to ask themselves questions like: How do I vote for a person who may not be able to carry out the duties of a president?" Mancuso says.

Kyle Kondik, a nonpartisan analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, says he's not sure whether a bribery trial would hurt Trump because many people, he says, are used to him breaking the rules.