The first criminal trial against Donald Trump begins today. This is the first time that a US president will appear in court in criminal proceedings.
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Trump will appear in court in New York on charges of financial fraud in payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
For several months, Donald Trump and his lawyers tried to delay the start of the process, but the court rejected their requests. As of April 15, Trump is required to attend court hearings in Manhattan, New York, as part of a case that will last at least six weeks.
State law requires Trump to attend all hearings in person, limiting his ability to campaign for the presidency during that period.
The crux of the Daniels case
In 2016, during the election campaign, porn star Stormy Daniels (real name Stephanie Gregory Clifford) approached journalists with a proposal to write about her affair with Trump. Allegedly, she had concrete evidence that such an affair existed. But the Trump campaign was proactive and paid Daniels $130,000. for silence.
If Trump had just given her his money, none of this would have happened. But Daniels was paid by his lawyer, Michael Cohen. He has worked on Trump’s legal team since 2007. In 2018, Cohen became involved in a case of Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election and related financial fraud. He then pleaded guilty and was disbarred.
The origin of the money raised questions; Cohen stated that he paid Daniels with his personal money, but for this he formed a shell company, Essential Consultants LLC. After which Cohen and Daniels entered into a non-disclosure agreement. There are no Trump signatures on any documents. In the documents, Trump and Daniels appeared under the pseudonyms “Peggy Peterson” and “David Denisson.” And the payment was officially registered as “legal expenses.” Under New York State law, this is already considered forgery.
But even then, it is only a minor offense, not a crime. To bring a serious charge, prosecutors will need to prove that Trump tried to cover up other illegal activities. For example, violation of the election law.
New York prosecutors are considering charging Trump because the intent to hide Daniels’ payment and the whole story suggests a desire to mislead voters.
Prosecutors need to prove that Daniels’ payment had something to do with the election. But New York state laws can help them here, defining a campaign contribution as “anything of value done in connection with an election.”
It is still unknown what rules the New York prosecutor’s office will operate. American legal scholars put forward different theories. New York State Law 14-126 makes it illegal to induce a person to spend money to circumvent campaign spending limits. What Trump essentially did was force Cohen to pay from his account. There’s also State Law 17-152, which makes it a crime to commit any conspiracy to elect a candidate through “unlawful means.”
There are four criminal cases in total; their conventional names and timelines can be seen in this picture:
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.