On April 22, in Manhattan State Court in New York City, United States, Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump watched his criminal trial accused of concealing a 2016 payment to porn star Stormi. Complaining about Daniels’ silence. 2024.
Brendan McDermid
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New York prosecutors and defense lawyers hush money trial Donald Trump will deliver opening statements Monday and witnesses will be called to testify.
Prosecutors are expected to call David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media, the publisher of the National Enquirer, as the first witness, a person with direct knowledge told NBC News.
Pekar is suspected of being deeply involved in “capturing and destroying” negative information about Republican candidate Trump before the 2016 presidential election.
Packer clashed with then-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen in late 2016 to confront porn star Stormi Daniels’ claims that she had issued a warning to Trump years earlier. 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 appeared in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York to attend his trial on charges of hush money related to an extramarital affair.
Angela Weiss |
American media allegedly paid $150,000 in early 2016 to former Playboy model Karen McDougall, who also said she had an extramarital affair with Trump.
Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records for concealing payments to Cohen to bribe Daniels. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accused Trump of doing this to influence the 2016 election.
In a Trump tweet Monday morning, the Truth Society defended the payment to Cohen while slamming 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 alleged in the article that he could not 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 damn Joe Biden narrative – stuck in court and not allowed to run for President of the United States!”
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 prospective judges quickly disqualified themselves, claiming they could not fairly and impartially decide charges against the former president and current Republican presidential nominee. Others were removed from office after lawyers uncovered 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 face a fair jury in New York City, where polls show him deeply unpopular.
Judge Juan Merchant convened a full jury the same day, and the appeals court quickly dismissed the last-minute effort.
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