Trump’s historic criminal trial officially begins as first potential jurors are sworn in – live

LIVE – Updated at 21:02

Former US president becomes first to undergo criminal trial over charges of falsifying business records to hide his affair with Stormy Daniels.

 

21:02

Court is back in session, and the jury selection process will continue.

Donald Trump did not respond to questions as he returned to the courtroom.

Trump wants to be present for ‘everything’ at trial, says lawyer

20:58Hugo Lowell

Merchan appears eager to get on to the voir dire jury selection process.

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche says Trump intends to be present for everything – including side bars – which is now causing a new problem due to logistics issues with the US Secret Service. Blanche insists:

President Trump wants to be present at everything. He does want to be present.

Merchan, speaking to Trump, tells him that if he disrupts the proceeding, he could be jailed, with jury selection continuing in his absence.

It’s a routine “Parker warning” that Merchan issues to all defendants.

 

20:57Victoria Bekiempis

Trump lawyer Todd Blanche did say that while the former president “wants to be present at everything”, there might be some days that just wouldn’t work.

Earlier today there was a brief discussion about whether there would be court on the day of Trump’s son Barron’s high school graduation.

 

20:56Sam Levine

It will also be difficult for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg to define a clear victim in the case. Stormy Daniels received a payout for her silence and Michael Cohen also willingly accepted money.

That puts the pressure on Bragg to explain why the true victims are the voting public.

“You don’t need Michael Cohen or Stormy Daniels or any victim, you know – all New Yorkers are victims because … all of us who have businesses who do things the right way,” Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said.

If I were them, I would say this case has nothing to do with Michael Cohen. It’s more about concealing something from voters.

Fred Wertheimer, the founder and president of Democracy 21, who has been supportive of the prosecution, said that keeping the focus on the political significance of the hush-money payments would be key.

“This is not just a hush-money case, as it tends to be described,” he said.

The money was given to influence the 2016 election. In other words, the silence was purchased so [Daniels] would not provide damaging information in the closing weeks of his campaign.

Police investigate bomb threat at Manhattan district attorney’s home

20:55

Police are investigating a bomb threat at the home of the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, from this morning, they said.

A police spokesperson said a 911 caller reported the threat shortly before 9am, AP reported.

This isn’t the first time Bragg has been threatened for his role in prosecuting the case against Donald Trump.

A powdery substance was found last year with a threatening letter that said “Alvin, I am going to kill you” in a mailroom at Bragg’s offices.

 

20:55

Here are some sketches capturing scenes inside the Manhattan courtroom, where no cameras are allowed inside.

Why is Donald Trump on trial for $130,000 paid to Stormy Daniels?

20:54Lauren Aratani

Back when candidate Donald Trump was just starting to fill stadiums across the US with loyal crowds of supporters, he held a fateful meeting that would set the course for the first criminal trial of a former US president, which kicked off today.

At that August 2015 meeting, Trump spoke with David Pecker, then-CEO of American Media, the parent company of tabloid the National Enquirer. Pecker told Trump he could be the “eyes and ears” for Trump’s presidential campaign, on the lookout for any salacious stories people were telling about him. Prosecutors would later call this strategy a “catch and kill” scheme.

As Trump’s campaign began to grow, Pecker learned about an adult film actor who said she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, the year after he married Melania, and was willing to go public with her story.

With the help of his former fixer Michael Cohen, Trump would allegedly pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to keep quiet about her story. After Trump became president, prosecutors say, he started reimbursing Cohen for the payment, which he would record in his financial records as legal fees to Cohen.

These payments could land Trump in prison. Prosecutors allege that Trump broke the law by falsifying these business records to hide illegal hush-money payments and protect Trump’s chances during the presidential election.

The former president faces 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. Trump pleaded not guilty to all counts last April. The charges carry a maximum of four years in prison.

 

20:53Lauren Aratani

Prosecutors with the Manhattan DA’s office spent years circling Donald Trump while investigating the hush-money payments.

The DA’s office first subpoenaed the Trump Organization for documents related to the Daniels payment in 2019. The investigation continued when Alvin Bragg became district attorney in 2022.

Though the investigation appeared to be drifting after years of simmering under the surface, investigators started presenting evidence in January 2023 to a grand jury that ultimately indicted Trump in March 2023. A clear narrative about the payments only came to light after the indictment was released. Though the payments had been previously reported, Trump’s role in the process was relatively ambiguous.

Juan Merchan, the judge overseeing the case, said he expects the trial to last about six weeks. The trial will be Trump’s third over the last year. Trump was fined $450m for inflating the value of his assets on financial statements in his New York fraud trial, and he was fined another $83.3m for defamation against the writer E Jean Carroll. Both were civil trials that did not put Trump, who is appealing both cases, at risk for prison time.

Bragg’s case is the first of four criminal cases against him to go to court. Trump faces a criminal case in Florida over alleged mishandling of classified documents, a case in Washington DC over the January 6 insurrection and a third in Georgia over attempts to overthrow the 2020 election. It is unclear when the Florida and Georgia cases will go to a trial, while the supreme court is considering arguments of presidential immunity in his DC case.

 

20:52

The court is taking a short recess.

Donald Trump watched as the prospective jurors filed out of the room. He then rose and left the courtroom.

He did not answer questions nor give a wave or thumbs up as he walked past reporters.

 

20:52

Donald Trump has returned to the courtroom following a lunch break.

He did not answer shouted questions as he made his way back to the courtroom, per the press pool.

The former president has remained largely silent during court so far.

During the morning period of today’s trial, Trump spoke only three, barely audible words into the record – he said “yes” three times as he was read his so-called “Parker warnings”, advising him that he is entitled to be present in court, but that he can be removed from court for reasons of misconduct.

 

20:50Victoria Bekiempis

Merchan has outlined the next steps for prosecutors’ request to have Trump held in contempt over several social media posts about witnesses in the trial.

The judge said he would have a hearing on the issue on Wednesday 24 April. Trump’s attorneys have a 19 April deadline to submit a written response.

Christopher Conroy, one of the prosecutors, requested that a copy of this order get served on Trump. Someone handed papers to Trump and his attorney.

 

20:50

Court proceedings have paused for several minutes as prospective jurors are going through security prior to entering the courtroom.

Merchan has temporarily left the bench. Donald Trump remains at defense table speaking with his attorney Todd Blanche.

In a brief exchange with Blanche after the judge stepped away to his chambers, Trump threw aside his hands in exasperation and appeared to point forcefully in the direction of the bench several times, Reuters reported.

Trump, continuing to gesture energetically to Blanche, briefly turned away and let out a sigh of clear frustration and shook his head.

 

20:49

Judge Merchan has begun calling individual jurors to answer questions from the 42-point questionnaire they were given.

It begins by asking basic biographical information about where prospective jurors live, their marital status, occupation and hobbies, as well as their sources of news.

Many of these questions require yes-or-no answers. Lawyers will be able to ask follow-up questions later.

Trump followed along intently with his own copy of the questionnaire as the first possible juror, a woman, gave her answers.

 

20:43Victoria Bekiempis

One excused prospective juror made clear their feelings as they left.

“I just couldn’t do it,” they were overheard saying, according to a pool reporter.

 

20:28Rachel Leingang

While Donald Trump is in court in New York for the Stormy Daniels hush-money trial, his account on his social media platform is posting through it.

His Truth Social page is putting up new posts minute by minute, full of boasts about Trump or complaints about the charges he faces in this case and others.

The hush-money trial is the first of Trump’s cases to go to trial. This incessant posting could be an indication of how he intends to market himself amid the court battles, a way to distract from the case itself.

It is also a sign that he thinks leaning into the court cases, rather than avoiding talking about them, helps him with his followers.

The frenetic pace of the posts, though, with dozens just this morning, is a lot even for Trump. It’s unclear whether Trump himself is posting or people from his team are.

So far this morning, he has posted claiming the cases are an example of election interference and a sign that Biden and the Democrats are scared he will win. He has shared articles and videos about the cases, the border, the “stolen” election, his golf game, the Israel war, Ukraine, polls. He has posted videos about the cases with platitudes about how “they” are trying to steal the election from him and his supporters.

 

20:21

The judge asked prospective jurors to raise their hands if they believed they could not be fair and impartial. Judge Merchan said:

If you have an honest, legitimate, good-faith reason to believe you cannot serve on this case or cannot be fair and impartial, please let me know now.

More than half of prospective jurors in the first panel of 96 people have been excused.

 

20:20

Judge Merchan listed the names of more than 40 people who could be involved in the trial, including Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, David Pecker, members of the Trump family, Rudy Giuliani, former Trump presidential staffer Hope Hicks and Trump’s former chief of staff Reince Priebus.

The judge noted that not all of them will appear as witnesses but that their names could be raised at trial.

 

20:08

Before bringing in the first batch of prospective jurors, Merchan said he will allow them to address the bench and lawyers privately if they prefer not to answer certain questions publicly.

Doing so would entail clearing the courtroom of other jurors and sending them to a separate room, Merchan said.

“There’s not a whole lot of privacy here,” he said, adding:

We want to know who we’re getting on this jury. Anything we do discouraging jurors from being 100% open, kind of cuts against that.

There will be 96 prospective jurors in the first panel, Merchan said.

Trial officially begins as first potential jurors sworn in

20:07Victoria Bekiempis

The first batch of potential jurors has been sworn in by the judge, Juan Merchan.

This makes Donald Trump the first US president, former or president, to stand trial.

Since they’re sworn in, the trial has officially started.

 

20:07

Merchan has rescheduled the hearing for whether Donald Trump will be held in contempt of court has been changed from 24 April to 23 April 9.30am ET.

 

20:06

Merchan is giving the first batch of jurors introductory instructions, extolling the importance of jury service while explaining the basics of the case. He told jurors:

You are about to participate in a trial by jury. The system of trial by jury is one the cornerstones of our judicial system.

Many of the prospective jurors stretched their necks to get a look at Donald Trump once in their seats. One giggled and put her hand over her mouth, looking at the person seated next to her with raised eyebrows. Several appeared to frequently stare at the former president as Merchan introduced the case.

The jury’s responsibility is to evaluate the testimony and all of the evidence presented at the trial … The trial is the opportunity for you to decide if the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

Trump stood and turned around as he was introduced as the defendant, giving the prospective jurors a little tight-lipped smirk.

Trump looked straight ahead, expressionless in the direction of the judge as Merchan addressed the prospective jurors, occasionally looking towards the jury box.

 

19:38

The first set of jurors have entered the courtroom.

Justice Juan Merchan said 96 jurors would be inside the courtroom. A total of about 200 jurors are physically here today, he said.

 

19:13

Here’s a clip from Donald Trump speaking to reporters this morning before the start of his criminal trial in New York.

Wearing his usual uniform of a navy suit and crimson tie, Trump said:

This is an assault on America. Nothing like this has ever happened before, there’s never been anything like it.

He called it “political persecution”, “a case that should have never been brought” and “an assault on our country”, adding:

This is really an attack on a political opponent, that is all it is.

 

18:02Sam Levine

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg faces other risks: a star witness in the case is Michael Cohen, Trump’s one-time confidant who has pleaded guilty to campaign finance and tax evasion charges and since been disbarred.

Trump’s attorneys are likely to go hard and try to undermine his credibility when he takes the stand, making it more difficult for Bragg to convince jurors he can be believed.

“Prosecutors are used to trying cases where their witnesses are flawed and have a lot of baggage,” Cheryl Bader, a professor at Fordham law school who specializes in criminal justice, said.

They know how to prepare a witness who has lied in the past and has committed crimes in the past to answer questions in cross-examination and to admit, right, to come clean to the jury and therefore show that they are willing to answer honestly even about the wrongs that they’ve done.

Cohen’s credibility may also be enhanced because he is not testifying in exchange for any leniency since he has already served a prison sentence, Bader noted.

Lying on the stand because you hate somebody is different than lying on the stand because you want to save yourself from going to jail.

But Cohen hasn’t done himself any favors. Last month, a federal judge suggested Cohen may have committed perjury when he testified in October that he hadn’t actually committed tax evasion even though he pleaded guilty to it in 2018.

 

17:34

The court is now taking a lunch break and will resume at 1.30pm ET.

Donald Trump left the courtroom with his lawyers and the Secret Service. Asked by reporters how the trial is going, he responded with another thumbs up.

 

17:32Victoria Bekiempis

Prosecutors are now asking Judge Merchan to enter an order that would impose a sanction of $1,000 per violation and they want Trump to be ordered to take down offending posts. (There are three that prosecutors are mentioning.)

The prosecutor, Christopher Conroy, also noted that “a little after 9 o’clock this morning, I was alerted to another post,” he said.

It’s entirely possible it was done inside this courthouse.

Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche is responding to prosecutors’ request that Trump be punished for repeatedly violating the gag order.

It’s not as if president Trump s going out and targeting individuals.

He’s responding to salacious claims, Blanche insisted.

The judge did not immediately issue a ruling.

 

17:20Victoria Bekiempis

Merchan seems eager to move things along.

As both sides been trying to hash out remaining issues about evidence that can be let into the trial, Merchan mentioned that there were 500 potential jurors waiting for selection.

He told prosecutors and defense to “work it out”.

Trump appears to nod off during trial

17:14Victoria Bekiempis

Donald Trump appears to be nodding off.

His eyes close and his head tilts or lowers and then it jolts him awake again.

 

17:03Sam Levine

The case puts lying, a critical part of Donald Trump’s political rise, back into the center of public discourse.

It also showcases an embarrassing moment for Trump in the public spotlight – reminding voters that he was concerned enough about news of an affair getting out that he was willing to pay a substantial sum to keep it quiet.

“Hush money for sex is never really dry,” said John Coffee Jr, a professor at Columbia University.

Whit Ayres, a longtime Republican pollster, said he was doubtful those allegations would make a difference.

Gee, Trump screws around on his wives. Whoa, what a revelation. And then he tries to cover it up. Whoa, what a revelation. Evangelical voters long ago made peace with the fact that Donald Trump is not exactly a model for fidelity in marriage.

 

16:55

A courthouse sketch by courtroom artist Elizabeth Williams shows Donald Trump speaking with his attorney Todd Blanche in the Manhattan criminal court.

 

16:54Sam Levine

Republicans and critics of the case see the trial as a ripe opportunity to paint the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, as a partisan player.

The perception that the crimes in the hush money case are relatively minor compared with the other charges Trump faces only augments that narrative.

“If I were designing a case that would be easy for Republicans to dismiss as a partisan witch-hunt, I would design exactly this case,” said Whit Ayres, a longtime Republican pollster.

This does not look like a prosecutor fairly and objectively trying to uphold the rule of law. It sounds like a Democrat out to get Donald Trump by any possible means.

But Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said the facts of the case were relatively routine, and described it as a “boring paper case” dealing with charges that are routinely brought.

New York court data obtained by the Guardian shows there have been nearly 600 cases since 2013 in Manhattan involving a charge of falsification of business records. A New York Times analysis found only two other felony cases over the last decade in which someone was charged with falsification of business records but no other crime.

“The only thing special about this case is the defendant. That’s it,” Agnifilo said.

This is not anyone bending over backwards. This is not anyone doing anything other than enforcing the law.

 

16:54

After a brief break, Trump is back in the courtroom and proceedings are about to resume. Jury selection still has not yet begun.

Josh Steinglass, the Manhattan district attorney prosecutor, has indicated that the prosecution will ask the judge to hold Trump in contempt for his attacks on witnesses.

 

16:53

During the break, Donald Trump was asked by reporters how the trial is going. Trump waved and gave a thumbs up, per pool.

 

16:53Victoria Bekiempis

The email to former Trump campaign manager Hope Hicks “is powerful evidence of the campaign’s reaction to the incendiary [Access Hollywood video]”, Manhattan DA prosecutor Josh Steinglass says.

Stormy Daniels, he said, “was living proof” of the fact that Trump was involved in boorish behavior.

Prosecutors also wanted to introduce a clip from the E Jean Carroll deposition where he references the tape.

Merchan ruled that the Access Hollywood tape itself could not come in, nor should the Carroll deposition tape. Merchan said he wants to avoid a trial within a trial.

The judge ruled that the deposition and the Access Hollywood tape would not be admitted, but that the emails could be.

Judge rules Access Hollywood transcript can be shown to jury

16:53Hugo Lowell

To recap: Merchan reiterated that the Access Hollywood tape and Trump’s reference to the tape in a deposition won’t come into evidence.

But Merchan allowed into evidence the transcript – so that prosecutors can read out the full Trump quote “grab them by the pussy” – and a 2015 email chain where Hope Hicks forwards the transcript to Kellyanne Conway asking if it was Trump’s voice, to which Conway asks Michael Cohen who was doing damage control.

 

16:29

In the Access Hollywood tape, Trump described grabbing women sexually without their permission.

Merchan had previously denied prosecutors’ request to play the video, but prosecutors will be able to question witnesses about it in court.

 

16:29Victoria Bekiempis

Merchan has shot down prosecutors’ push to bring in three other allegations.

Prosecutors are seeking to admit the fact there were three women who came forward with allegations of sexual assault against Trump.

In denying the request, Merchan said it would be “very prejudicial,” noting they hadn’t been proven.

 

16:24

The court is taking a short break.

Per pool, Trump has been watching along at the defense table on his own computer monitor screen.

Among the things he looked at on the screen were his E Jean Carroll deposition snippet, a video of remarks he made at a rally late in the 2016 election campaign, and examples of tweets that prosectors said show Trump’s pressure campaign on Michael Cohen not to flip.

 

16:05Victoria Bekiempis

Joshua Steinglass, a prosecutor, wants to introduce evidence about the Trump 2016 campaign’s collusion with AMI, publisher of The National Enquirer.

Steinglass says that outlet had said it would push positive stories about Trump and negative reports on his opponents, such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

This included stories about Cruz, alleging infidelity and a familiar connection to John F Kennedy’s assassination. With Rubio, this included salacious reports alleging drug abuse and some sort of sex scandal, Steinglass revealed.

 

16:04

Merchan said he was not prepared to rule on a request from Trump’s lawyers that the trial not be held on 17 May so that he can attend his son Barron’s high school graduation.

A Trump lawyer also requested the trial not be held on 3 June so that he could attend his own son’s graduation.

Merchan said that if the trial proceeds as planned, he would be willing to adjourn for one or both days, adding:

It really depends on how we’re doing on time and where we are in the trial.

 

16:04Hugo Lowell

Josh Steinglass, the Manhattan district attorney prosecutor, asks Merchan to clarify whether they can use evidence of Trump’s “catch and kill” scheme with National Enquirer to prevent negative stories from coming out before 2016 election – which is what the case is all about.

Steinglass wants to use testimony of August 2015 meeting between Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, because it shows Trump agreed to a scheme where National Enquirer published flattering stories on Trump, and negative stories on Trump’s opponents. The district attorney wants to show it was all to impact the 2016 election.

Steinglass says the “entire point of the Trump Tower meeting was to control the flow of information that reached the electorate” and “to accentuate negative, and exaggerated information harmful to Trump’s opponents”. Steinglass says:

The court should admit this evidence at trial. There is no conceivable prejudice for headlines the defendant himself commissioned.

 

16:02Hugo Lowell

Josh Steinglass, the Manhattan district attorney prosecutor, is now asking to let him establish that Karen McDougal, who was the subject of previous Trump “catch and kill” effort, is a former Playboy model and claims to have had a year-long romantic and sexual relationship while Trump’s wife Melania was pregnant.

Trump was stone-faced as this part unfolded. But his lead lawyer Todd Blanche came to his defense, springing up to object to the salacious details.

This is just to embarrass President Trump, it has nothing to do with the trial, he’s not charged with this misconduct.

Trump gets a win on this. Merchan has previously ruled on what evidence is allowed in and what’s not. And Merchan tells prosecutors he won’t allow them to use evidence Trump was having an affair when Melania was pregnant.

 

16:01Victoria Bekiempis

Josh Steinglass is explaining why evidence relating to the Access Hollywood tape should be admitted and why doing so is legal.

“We request to be able to elicit testimony that describes the tape,” the Manhattan district attorney prosecutor said. He said this will show Trump’s motive in the Stormy scheme, as team Trump’s discussion of the tape showed how they were trying to keep things from spiraling.

David Farenhold of the Washington Post emailed former campaign manager Hope Hicks about three hours before the Post’s story with the “grab ‘em” tape went online. The email included a transcript of the Access Hollywood video, and asked Hicks several questions abut the tape.

Hicks then fowarded the email to other campaign officials including Steve Bannon and Kelly Conway, Steinglass said.

It appears that Steve Bannon forwarded this email chain to Michael Cohen.

In the email, it said “It’s all over the place. Who’s doing damage control.”

 

15:28Hugo Lowell

Before we get into jury selection proper, Trump does not get off to a good start. Merchan starts by dealing with a couple “loose ends”, including Trump’s pending motion that the judge recuse himself. The judge goes through some of the “offensive” statements from Trump’s motion, saying he has no agenda against Trump.

Merchan starts with his recent interview with the Associated Press, which Trump complained about. Merchan notes he told the AP explicitly that he wouldn’t discuss the Trump case. He then tells Trump that his complaints do not “reasonably or logically” explain how these statements reflect bias.

Merchan then moves on to his daughter’s podcast interview from 2019, in which she said he disliked politicians using Twitter. Merchan says that does not reflect a bias against any party. Trump’s second motion to recuse the judge is denied.

 

15:27

Protests are taking place outside the Manhattan courthouse both in support of and against Donald Trump.

One group of demonstrators is carrying a banner that reads “No one is above the law”, and another group is calling on the judge, Juan Merchan, to recuse himself from the case.

Judge Merchan denies motion to recuse himself

15:15

Judge Juan Merchan denied the defense motion to recuse himself from the case.

In a recent court filing, Trump’s lawyers called on Merchan to remove himself from the case, arguing the judge’s daughter’s work for a political consultancy with Democratic clients poses a conflict of interest.

In a one-page court filing dated 1 April, Trump’s lawyers asked Merchan for permission to file a formal motion for him to recuse himself, arguing the trial would benefit his daughter’s firm, Authentic Campaigns, financially.

Trump last year made a similar request for Merchan to recuse himself, but the judge denied the bid after an ethics panel found that his daughter’s work did not pose reasonable questions about his impartiality.

 

15:09Sam Levine

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, has already started trying to frame the case as a matter of election interference, casting the hush-money payments and efforts to hide them as part of a scheme to conceal information from voters ahead of the 2016 election.

When Bragg first filed the charges, the biggest issue in the case was whether the crimes amounted to a felony. In New York, falsification of business records is a misdemeanor, but can be charged as a felony when it is done with the intent to commit another crime.

Bragg has said Trump falsified the business records with the intent to violate federal and New York state election laws, among other things – a novel way of charging the crime.

Many experts were initially somewhat skeptical of this strategy. While Judge Juan Merchan and a federal judge have both allowed Bragg to proceed to trial on this theory, it will probably be a central issue at the trial. Bragg will need to convince the jurors beyond a reasonable doubt not only that Trump falsified business records but also that he intended to violate another law.

 

15:05Sam Levine

As the criminal cases mounted against Donald Trump last year, one could be forgiven for not giving much thought to the New York case that charged him with 34 felony counts for falsifying business records.

The episode was a bombshell when the Wall Street Journal first reported it in January 2018. By the time the case was filed last year, it had largely faded in the public psyche – buried under Trump’s efforts to steal the 2020 election and an avalanche of other lies.

Now, the once-sleepy case will be the first time a former president has gone to trial on criminal charges. It’s an awkward incongruity – the case with what appear the more benign crimes is taking on an outsize importance by going first – and a dynamic that’s been shaped entirely by Trump, who has used an array of legal maneuvers to delay the other three criminal cases against him.

Like all of the trials against Trump, there will also be a case in the courtroom and in the court of public opinion. And first-term district attorney Alvin Bragg will need to clear both hurdles by not only presenting a cut-and-dried case about falsifying business records, but reminding the American public who the true victims are: themselves.

 

15:04

Alvin Bragg has entered the courtroom.

In his official biography, Bragg, 50, is described as a “son of Harlem” who became Manhattan district attorney after “a lifetime of hard work, courage and demanding justice”.

In obtaining a grand jury indictment against Donald Trump over his hush money payment to Stormy Daniels in 2016, the Democrat has now carved himself a place in history, as the man behind the first vote to criminally indict a former president.

Trial begins

15:02Victoria Bekiempis

This is the people of the state of New York versus Donald J Trump.

Court has begun with the clerk’s announcement. Juan Merchan has taken the bench.

The judge says:

The case is on today for jury selection. There are a couple of loose ends that we have to go over before we get started.”

 

14:55Hugo Lowell

Before he walked into the courtroom, Trump attacked the case as he addressed reporters. He said:

This is an assault on America, nothing like this has ever happened before, there’s never been anything like it.

“Every legal scholar said this case is nonsense, it should have never been brought, it doesn’t deserve anything like this,” Trump insisted, though as many legal scholars have noted, the Manhattan district attorney regularly prosecutes falsification of business records.

There is no case and I’ve said it people that don’t necessarily follow or like Donald Trump said this is an outrage that this case was brought.

This is political persecution this is a persecution like never before, nobody has ever seen anything like it and again it’s a case that should have never been brought, it’s an assault on America and that’s why I am very proud to be here.

This is an assault on our country and it’s a country that’s failing, it’s a country that’s run by an incompetent man and is very much involved in this case.

This is really an attack on a political opponent, that is all it is, so I’m very honored to be here, thank you very much.

 

14:53

 

14:52Hugo Lowell

Donald Trump has now walked into the courtroom for jury selection in his New York criminal trial with his legal team including: Todd Blanche, Emil Bove, Susan Necheles, Gedalia Stern.

Also in his entourage is senior Trump campaign adviser Steven Cheung.

 

14:47

If criminally convicted in New York, Donald Trump will face legal humiliations of the sort he loves when applied to other people, writes Sidney Blumenthal, former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton, in an opinion piece for the Guardian today.

Blumenthal quotes Joshua Dratel, the past president of the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, that if Trump is found guilty there is a wide range of punishments that could be applied, because the law doesn’t specify any mandatory ones.

He could go to jail. Probation is a possibility. He could get fined. The judge could sentence him to a fine, then put him on supervision – probably not likely. He could get one to three years. He could get four months in jail and a fine. If he got four months, then he’d have a work release application ready to go, then supervised for a few months. There’s no minimum time he’d have to serve. Then he might do a couple of days, a week or two, depending on the application. But that would be after appeal. If he would testify and lie on the stand that would generate a jail term. If he appeals, the judge stays the sentence.”

But one guarantee is that Trump would become the first disenfranchised felon to be nominated by a major party.

That means, on election day 2024, surrounded by the clicking cameras of the press corps, assuming he is still out on appeal, Trump could tag along with his wife Melania, a naturalized citizen, to the polls in Palm Beach, but he could not enter a voting booth. He could not vote for himself, or anyone else, for any office.

 

14:43Victoria Bekiempis

Trump appears to be scowling for the cameras as a group of pool photographers snaps photos of him before proceedings start.

The trial does not start until jury selection starts.

There is going to be some preliminary discussion of stuff prior to selection starting.

 

14:42Hugo Lowell

Trump went into the courtroom behind his attorney Todd Blanche, paused for a split second, licked his lips, then began walking up the courtroom’s center aisle.

Trump was hunch-shouldered, but chin up, his expression stern, per pool.

 

14:41Hugo Lowell

Shortly, we should have the first set of potential jurors enter the courtroom where they will give their responses verbally to a 42-point questionnaire.

There are several categories of questions, including: in which New York neighborhood they live, their educational background, whether they’ve engaged in political activism or previously served on a jury.

Then there are questions aimed at other subconscious biases, like whether they get their news from left-leaning outlets like MSNBC or the Washington Post, or right-leaning outlets like Fox News or the New York Post.

Also on the questionnaire their knowledge about Trump generally, whether they know of his books, if they’ve attended a rally, knowledge of Trump’s associates — both for Trump and against him.

 

14:41Hugo Lowell

Trump’s lawyers are looking to find and seat on the 12-person jury what lawyers call a “holdout juror”.

Holdout jurors are people who the defense believes will be on their side and refuse to convict on any of the criminal counts.

Trump wants a holdout juror because that would lead to a mistrial – and with Trump unlikely to get an outright acquittal (since that would require every juror to find him not guilty) that’s the final outcome his lawyers are striving for.

Trump says trial ‘an assault on America’

14:39

Donald Trump spoke briefly to reporters as he arrived at the court in Manhattan, where he claimed the trial is “an assault on America” and “an attack on a political opponent.”

“Nobody has ever seen anything like it,” he said, adding:

This is political persecution … it’s a case that should have never been brought.

The former president added:

It’s an assault on America. And that’s why I’m very proud to be here. This is an assault. On our country. And it’s a country that’s failing. It’s a country that’s run by an incompetent man who’s very much involved in this case. This is really an attack on a political opponent. That’s all it is. So I’m very honored to be here.

 

14:34Victoria Bekiempis

Donald Trump has entered the courtroom.

He is seated at the defense table, crossing his fingers over each other.

 

14:34

Donald Trump is now inside the Manhattan courthouse, after his motorcade pulled up outside the building just after 9am ET.

Trump arrives at court for start of jury selection

14:33Chris Michael

Trump has arrived at the New York criminal court for the start of jury selection. Trump travelled to court with his lawyers, including Todd Blanche and Emil Bove.

 

14:30Chris Michael

So what happens today?

Well, Trump will be present, though he won’t be testifying or anything like that yet. (He may never: he has a history of talking big about cases, only to refuse to speak under oath.) He’s likely to speak to the media outside the courthouse about the case, although he is under a gag order to prevent him from making public statements about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff, and the family members of the judge, Juan Merchan, and the district attorney, Alvin Bragg – though not about those two men themselves.

Mainly, like everyone else, he’ll be watching the trial kick off with jury selection, which could last a couple of weeks of what’s expected to be a roughly six-week trial.

Finding 12 human beings who don’t have an opinion about the guy who has absolutely dominated media coverage for nearly a decade will be next to impossible. The judge has acknowledged this, and ruled that merely liking or disliking Trump itself won’t be grounds to dismiss a juror. Instead, Merchan will be looking for people who can be reasonably fair and impartial, whatever their personal opinions of Trump. Each juror will answer a questionnaire, including whether they support far-left or far-right movements and which podcasts and newspapers they subscribe to.

Trump’s team will be looking for jurors that support him. Some analysts go as far as to say that, given the huge weight of evidence against him, Trump’s strategy will likely be to find just one juror who secretly intends to support Trump no matter what facts emerge. That bias could lead to jury nullification and a mistrial. In other words, a win for Trump.

Prosecutors, for their part, will be hoping to find 12 people who are willing to treat the facts at face value and intelligent enough to understand campaign finance law.

But there’s another jury here, as Trump well knows – the jury of public opinion. Remember, even if Trump is convicted and serves time in prison, he could still be elected president. So he will no doubt use every opportunity he can – including on the steps of the courthouse today – to shout his message that everything’s a “deep state” conspiracy, in the hopes that whether he wins or loses he gets a bump in the polls: either for an acquittal, or as a martyr.

Who are the key players?

14:29Chris Michael

Some are already well known – and others are likely to become household names starting today.

• If you’ve successfully managed to find your way to the internet to read this, you’ve likely heard of the defendant, Donald Trump.

• There’s also Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, an adult film star who says she met Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament. She was 27, Trump was 60. She says she took $130,000 from Trump’s lawyers to keep quiet about their affair because, as she told 60 Minutes: “The story was coming out again. I was concerned for my family and their safety.”

• Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, also claimed to have had an affair with Trump. She was paid $150,000 by the National Enquirer, which bought her story in order to not publish it – a practice known as “catch and kill”. Allegedly those payments also came from Trump.

• Michael Cohen is the lawyer and former Trump loyalist who facilitated the payments. Trump is accused of working with Cohen and Trump organization officials to conceal the purpose of those payments on business records. In 2018, Cohen pled guilty to a range of federal crimes, including campaign finance charges, and said he made the payments at the direction of Trump. He served a three-year prison sentence. He was also disbarred in New York in 2019 after pleading guilty to lying to Congress.

• David Pecker is the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer. As well as the Playboy model’s story, AMI paid $30,000 to a former doorman at Trump Tower who was trying to sell a story that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock.

• There’s Allen Weisselberg, the former CFO of the Trump Organization who worked for the company for more than 50 years. He has already been sentenced to prison twice, but has so far refused to turn on Trump. He played a key role in concealing the purpose of Trump’s repayments to Cohen, according to the indictment.

And some of the court players:

• Juan Merchan. The judge was born in Colombia and grew up in New York City. He has moved the case along quickly, and recently expanded a gag order against Trump after the former president repeatedly attacked his daughter, who has worked for various Democratic political candidates.

• The district attorney who has brought the case against Trump is Alvin Bragg. Elected in 2021 to be the top prosecutor in Manhattan, he initially slow-walked a criminal investigation into Trump’s financial assets, prompting the prosecutors to resign; but then surprised everyone by moving forward with the hush-money case instead.

• Trump’s lawyer is Todd Blanche. A well-respected former prosecutor who left his job at a white-collar firm to represent Trump, this will only be his second trial as a defense lawyer.

Read more details in our explainer, below.

 

14:25Victoria Bekiempis

The prosecution team has entered the courtroom. They are shuffling and organizing papers on their desk.

They are Susan Hoffinger, Joshua Steinglass, and Matthew Colangelo.

One of Trump’s attorneys can be seen milling about the courtroom.

 

14:21Chris Michael

Victoria Bekiempis is reporting from the 100 Centre Street courthouse in Manhattan.

A handful of protesters are gathered in the park across the street from the 100 Centre Street courthouse in downtown Manhattan. One has a sign that reads TRUMP CRIMINAL TRIAL that appears appears spray-painted on bedsheet-like fabric.

Last year, for Trump’s arraignment, there was chaos outside the courtroom, because people were admitted on a first-come, first-served basis. Some media outlets hired professional line-sitters to wait for them.

Today, Victoria reports that the line to get into the courtroom and adjacent overflow room is orderly.

In room 1523, journalists started taking their seats on wood benches shortly after 8am. There are two large television screens where those in attendance will be able to watch video and listen to jury selection, which is in room 1530, just down the hall.

Before prospective jurors are brought into the courtroom, it is likely that both sides will confer briefly over outstanding issues. Whenever that wraps, Trump is poised to start facing potential panelists, who will be screened for potential biases in a selection process that will easily take at least one week.

Trump himself is expected to arrive at the courthouse some time around 9:30am.

There are, as yet, no visible Maga supporters gathered outside.

 

14:20

Donald Trump has just walked out of Trump Tower to his motorcade, which will take him to the 100 Centre Street courtroom, reports Hugo Lowell.

Wearing a blue suit and red tie, Trump waved to a collection of news cameras posted across the street before ducking into his secret service vehicle.

Donald Trump faces trial over hush money

14:13Chris Michael

Good morning, this is Chris Michael.

Today marks a first in American history: a US president is going on trial for criminal charges.

Donald Trump, winner of the 2016 election, loser in 2020 and now once again the presumptive Republican nominee in 2024, is accused of attempting to interfere with the first of those elections, by paying hush money to hide information from the American voters – specifically, the fact that he had an affair with an adult film star, Stephanie Clifford, AKA Stormy Daniels.

Prosecutors say he had his attorney, Michael Cohen, pay $130,000 to a Daniels attorney in order to buy her silence. Similarly, they say he participated in a “catch and kill” scheme with the National Enquirer to buy another affair story – this one from the Playboy model Karen McDougall – in order to not publish it.

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records after he allegedly repaid his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for the payments but listed them as legal fees. This would, prosecutors say, violate campaign finance law because the payments were intended to keep valuable information away from US voters right before the 2016 election.

All of this came, if you’ll recall, around the time of the infamous Access Hollywood tape, where Trump bragged he could sexually assault women because of his fame. Prosecutors say Trump was terrified that if another story came out, about affairs with a porn star, it could cost him the 2016 election. Of course, the story didn’t come out, and he won the presidency.

It is a tricky case – not necessarily because of the facts of the hush-money payments themselves, but because prosecutors will have to prove Trump’s intent to commit a crime.

It also plays out in the thick of a presidential campaign, where Trump is running neck and neck in the polls with the US president, Joe Biden.

Strap in.

 

13:12Chris Michael

You might be forgiven for asking: so which case is this again?

After all, Trump faces four different investigations:

• He’s also accused of taking classified documents from the White House and showing them off to random people at his country club, including top secret information about America’s nuclear arsenal.

• And he’s accused twice (one federal case, one in Georgia) for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which he lost to Biden but then worked doggedly to undermine, efforts that culminated when a mob who believed Trump’s election lies stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 in order to stop Congress from transferring power to Joe Biden.

• And don’t confuse this case for two civil cases Trump has just lost – for defaming the writer E Jean Carroll by claiming that she was lying about Trump raping her, which a judge determined was “substantially true” – and another for fraud, specifically inflating the value of his properties in New York in order to win more favourable loans. So far he owes more than $500m for those defeats.

Trump’s other criminal cases, however – while seemingly even more consequential than the Stormy Daniels one – have become bogged down. Trump has pursued a strategy of filing endless movements and appeals, in a naked attempt to delay the cases. Largely, it has worked.

That means the Stormy Daniels case, brought by the district attorney Alvin Bragg in New York, could be the only one he faces before the presidential election on 5 November. And should should he regain the presidency, Trump could move to quash the two federal cases – though not the Georgia one. But in that case the DA, Fani Willis, has been embroiled in a controversy for allegedly hiring her married boyfriend as a prosecutor.

It’s enough to make your head spin.

It’s also, however, very simple. Finally, after nearly eight years since he first started actively trying to subvert democracy, Trump faces a criminal trial. He can’t delay any longer.

Today, he’ll be in the courtroom.