(Daily Mail) Donald Trump will be the first former president to go on trial on Monday when heads to court in Manhattan to face felony charges related to the hush money scheme to keep porn star Stormy Daniels silent during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The eyes of the world will be on downtown New York as the 77-year-old presumptive Republican nominee faces the judge and sits the court as a panel of 12 jurors are selected.
Trump’s lawyers have been filing a series of motions seeking to delay the trial. But the former president has lost repeatedly in those efforts, setting up the April 15th start date.
Donald Trump will go on trial Monday for felony charges in the state of New York
Trump faces 34 felony counts in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is charging the former president with using his business records to hide the $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair.
It is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Monday starts with jury selection, overseen by Judge Juan Merchan.
‘Jury selection is largely luck. It depends who you get,’ Trump said Friday at Mar-a-Lago.
Below, DailyMail.com has broken down all the details and answered all the pressings questions about the case:
THE BACKGROUND
Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, shortly after Melania had given birth to their son Barron.
It happened when the two met at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.
In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes that aired March 25, 2018, Daniels said that she and Trump had sex once. She also claims she spanked him with a magazine that had him on the cover.
The former president has denied the affair and claims the trial is a politically-motivated ‘witch hunt.’
THE PAYMENT
On January 12, 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that then-Trump fixer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016, a month before the presidential election, to stop her from discussing the alleged affair and thus hurting Trump’s chances in the presidential election.
Prosecutors argue that Trump reimbursed Cohen in a series of installment payments processed by his business, which prosecutors say were fraudulently disguised as corporate legal expenses in violation of New York law.
Cohen, Trump and then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg reach an agreement that Cohen will be reimbursed $420,000 in total for the Daniels payment, prosecutors claim.
That includes a $60,000 bonus, $50,000 for a different expense and $180,000 to cover taxes – which would be made through 12 monthly payments of $35,000 each.
Cohen submitted invoices for the $35,000 payments, per Trump Organization business records.
THE CHARGES
The 34 counts include 11 counts on the checks to Cohen, 11 on the monthly invoices Cohen submitted to Trump’s company, and 12 involve entries in the general ledger for Trump’s trust.
The trial is related to $130,000 in hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels
WILL TRUMP BE AT THE TRIAL?
Under New York state law, Trump is required to attend his entire trial in person.
The trial is expected to last around six weeks to two months and Trump’s courtroom requirement will hamper his ability to campaign for president.
The court will set every weekday aside from Wednesdays, meaning Trump could use the middle of the week of weekends for campaign events.
While the trail will not be televised, pictures will of Trump in court will likely be allowed.
In the past, TV cameras have been allowed in the hallway of the courthouse and Trump has paused to address them.
Trump faces 34 felony counts in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is charging the former president with using his business records to hide the $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair
WHO WILL TESTIFY?
Daniels and Cohen have already indicated they will testify for the prosecution.
