For the first time in American history, a former president will be tried in a court of law.

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Uncharted territory

Donald Trump has sought every opportunity to slow the four criminal cases against him ([link removed]) .

But now, the former president can no longer delay or dismiss what’s been dubbed his “hush money” case. Barring a last-minute intervention, the trial will begin April 15 ([link removed]) .

For the first time in American history, a former president will be tried in a court of law.

Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide the fact that he sought to silence allegations of extramarital affairs that surfaced during his 2016 presidential campaign. At the heart of the alleged scheme is a $130,000 payment to Stephanie Clifford, the adult film actor known as "Stormy Daniels."

The PBS NewsHour explores how the historic trial might unfold.

This newsletter was compiled by Joshua Barajas ([link removed]) .
THE BASICS OF THE CASE

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Watch the segment in the player above.

Despite attempts by Trump’s lawyers’ to punt the prosecution ([link removed]) until after Election Day — a strategy that has so far worked in his other three criminal cases — jury selection will begin Monday in the Manhattan trial.

What is the case about?

Trump faces 34 felony counts ([link removed]) of falsifying business records.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged the former president with orchestrating a scheme with his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to conceal a $130,000 payment to Clifford. The adult film actor, known as “Stormy Daniels,” said she had a one-time sexual liaison with Trump years before his first White House run. Cohen paid Daniels to stay quiet about the alleged affair.

The case centers on a series of transactions made by Trump to repay Cohen that were recorded as legitimate legal services. Trump has pleaded not guilty ([link removed]) and has denied an affair with Daniels.

There is a star witness.

Cohen is expected to testify about the origin of those payments ([link removed]) , how they were accounted for, and who knew what.

The former Trump associate pleaded guilty ([link removed]) to campaign finance violations related to these payments in 2018. He served a three-year sentence for those and other charges.

How will the PBS NewsHour cover the trial?

The trial will not be televised, and it’s expected to last several weeks.

Correspondent William Brangham will be in the Manhattan courthouse for jury selection and opening statements. We will recap highlights from the first week’s proceedings in our weekly show ([link removed]) .

This “hush money” case is also just one of several legal cases Trump faces as he campaigns for a second presidential term. Keep up with the latest on all of his trials here ([link removed]) .

You can also sign up for Here’s the Deal ([link removed]) , our weekly politics newsletter helmed every Tuesday by congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM TRUMP’S FIRST CRIMINAL TRIAL
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Courtroom sketch by Jane Rosenberg via Reuters
By William Brangham, @WmBrangham ([link removed])
Correspondent

Donald Trump is no stranger to courtrooms.

I’ve sat and watched him joust with prosecutors and judges many times this year, but what’s starting this Monday in Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom in downtown Manhattan will be a historic first.

No former president has ever stood trial on felony charges. Certainly not a man who’s currently leading in several polls to win the presidency once again. Despite his legal team’s best efforts, Trump will now face the judgment of a New York jury.

These are some things I’m watching.

Who controls the narrative?

There’s going to be a lot of contradictory messaging flying around regarding what this case is really all about.

While the jury will hear lots of dry details about ledgers, invoices and retainer agreements, the tabloids will continue to dub this the “porn-star hush-money” case, and try to find every way they can to splash images of Stormy Daniels across their coverage.

As he has done in all his previous court appearances, Trump will continue to assert his innocence, and press his evidence-free claim that this case is another “witch hunt” orchestrated by President Joe Biden to derail his return to the White House.

Trump has turned his many court appearances this year into a regular part of his presidential campaign. Each day, on his way in or out of the courtroom, he’s greeted by a phalanx of cameras where he explains how unfair and unjust these cases are. This trial will likely be no different.

District Attorney Alvin Bragg hopes the jury, and the rest of the country, sees something different ([link removed]) in this case. While he’s charging Trump with falsifying business records, Bragg wants this case seen as an attempt by the former president to illegally tip the scales of the 2016 presidential election.

How will defendant Trump behave?

It’s hard to think of another defendant in America who’s been as verbally hostile towards the prosecutors and judges overseeing the cases against him.

At various times, he’s called these officials “racist,” “deranged,” a “slob,” and a “radical-left lunatic.” He called Bragg, the Black prosecutor leading this case, an “animal” who “doesn’t care about right or wrong.”

Following these insults, many of these officials have received death threats. Judge Arthur Engoron, who oversaw Trump’s civil fraud trial ([link removed]) in New York and levied a nearly half-a-billion dollar judgment against him, had a bomb threat called into his house and an envelope with white powder sent to his office.

At his arraignment for this case, Judge Merchan instructed Trump to "refrain from making statements that are likely to incite violence and civil unrest," but that didn't deter the former president ([link removed]) .

Merchan initially imposed a gag order that prevented Trump from making public statements meant to interfere with the case, including comments about witnesses and their testimony, prosecutors other than Bragg, court staff and any of their family members. When Trump began criticizing Merchan’s adult daughter, alleging that her work for an unrelated Democratic organization meant the judge had to recuse himself, the judge expanded the gag order ([link removed].) to make members of his own family, and Bragg’s, off limits.

“This pattern of attacking family members of presiding jurists and attorneys assigned to his cases serves no legitimate purpose,” Merchan wrote. “It merely injects fear in those assigned or called to participate in the proceedings that not only they, but their family members as well, are ‘fair game,’ for defendant’s vitriol.”

How Trump behaves in court, in front of the jury, and on social media throughout this trial will be something key to watch.

Will the jury be convinced?

Apart from all the heated rhetoric and talk of extramarital affairs, this case does come down to a relatively narrow set of allegations.

Did Donald Trump and his associates intentionally falsify private Trump Organization business records to obscure the fact that Trump was paying Cohen — not for legal services, but to reimburse him for the $130,000 he paid to Daniels just weeks before the 2016 election?

That $130,000 payment — as Cohen has affirmed in a separate legal case — was meant to prevent Daniels from revealing a story she’d been shopping around for a few months. Years before, Daniels said she had a consensual, one-time sexual encounter with Trump. The hush money payment came just weeks after the “Access Hollywood” tape dropped ([link removed]) . On the 2005 recording, Trump was heard bragging that his celebrity allowed him to grab women’s genitals at will.

These payments to Cohen were done via a series of checks signed by then-President Trump. They were accounted for in the Trump Organization’s various ledgers as legal feels that were part of a retainer agreement with Cohen. District Attorney Bragg argues those records were all falsified, and his prosecutors must now prove to the jury that they were done so on purpose, with a specific intent to defraud.

Under New York law, falsifying business records is a misdemeanor offense, but Trump is being charged with a felony.

“It's a felony when falsifying business records is done for the purpose of concealing or committing another crime,” said Jerry Goldfeder, a senior partner at Cozen & O’Connor in New York. “That's what District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged, that Trump falsified all these business records, because what he really wanted to do was to hide these facts to win the election.”
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