On April 22, in the Manhattan State Court in New York City, the United States, Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump was watching his criminal trial. He was accused of falsifying business records and concealing a 2016 payment to porn star Stormi. Daniels’ silence charges.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial in New York are scheduled to make opening statements on Monday and begin calling witnesses to testify.
Prosecutors are expected to call David Pecker, the former CEO of National Enquirer publisher American Media, as the first witness, a person with direct knowledge told NBC News.
Pecker is suspected of being deeply involved in “capturing and destroying” negative information about Republican candidate Trump before the 2016 presidential election.
Packer allegedly confronted Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen in late 2016 about porn star Stormy Daniels’ claims that she had sex with Trump years earlier while they were married. Cohen issued a warning. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 less than two weeks before the election, which Trump ultimately won.
On April 22, 2024, former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump arrived at the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York to attend his trial for allegedly covering up hush payments related to extramarital affairs.
Angela Weiss | Reuters
The American media also allegedly paid $150,000 in early 2016 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who also said she had an extramarital affair with Trump.
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal payments he made to Cohen to bribe Daniels. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of doing so to influence the 2016 election.
Trump in a postal On Monday morning, The Truth Society defended the payments to Cohen while condemning the district attorney.
Bragg “said that fees paid to attorneys for rendering legal services should not be called legal fees on the books,” Trump wrote. “What other word is more appropriate???”
Trump also complained in that article that he couldn’t run for president this week because he needed to attend the trial, which is expected to last about six weeks.
“This is also the perfect dodgy Joe Biden narrative – stuck in court and not allowed to run for President of the United States!” he posted.
Opening statements and witness testimony will be presented to the 12-member jury and six alternates who attended the historic trial in Manhattan Supreme Court last week.
Dozens of potential jurors quickly disqualified themselves, claiming they could not fairly and impartially decide the charges against the former president and current Republican presidential nominee. Others were dismissed after lawyers discovered past social media posts critical of Trump.
In the weeks leading up to the trial, the former president’s lawyers made several attempts to delay or dismiss it.
That includes asking the Manhattan Court of Appeals on Friday afternoon to put the case on hold, arguing that Trump cannot serve a fair jury in New York City, where polls show him deeply unpopular.
Judge Juan Merchant assembled a full jury the same day, and the appeals court quickly dismissed the last-minute effort.
About The Author
