The trial against Donald Trump for payments to Stormy Daniels Today, April 22, 2024, entered a new stage after last week the jury will be selected that at the end of the process will determine whether the former president of the United States is “guilty” or “not guilty” of the 34 crimes of accounting fraud.
This Monday began the arguments phase, in which New York prosecutors began to explain to the jury why the payment of the alleged cover-up by Donald Trump of a payment in exchange for silence Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign broke the law . Here we present all the updates.
Trump is “clad in innocence,” defense says – 10:00
Donald Trump is “clad in innocence,” the defense said this Monday in the historic trial of the former president of the United States after the prosecution accused him of orchestrating a “criminal plan” to influence the 2016 elections.
“President Trump is presumed innocent. He is clothed in innocence,” said his lawyer Todd Blanche in presenting the oral arguments in favor of his client.
Photo: Reuters
Trump outlined plan to influence 2016 elections – 9:30
Donald Trump orchestrated a “criminal plan” to influence the 2016 electionsThe Manhattan prosecutor’s office said today, April 22, 2024, in the trial of the former US president, which runs in parallel with his attempt to return to occupy the White House after the November 5 elections.
“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said in the oral presentation of the case.
“He orchestrated a criminal plan to influence the 2016 presidential election,” he said before adding that the Republican “lied” in the accounting books “over and over again” to hide it.
The 77-year-old tycoon is accused of 34 crimes of accounting fraud to cover up the payment of 130 thousand dollars to the former porn film actress Stormy Daniels in order to silence an alleged sexual encounter that occurred a decade earlier, in the final stretch of the 2016 campaign that surprisingly led him to the presidency.
After about six weeks of trial, the twelve members of the jury (supported by six alternates) citizens, whose names have been withheld for security reasons, will have to issue a unanimous ruling that will seal the future of possibly the most controversial politician in history. modern of the country.
“Remember, you have promised to be fair,” Judge Juan Merchan warned them at the beginning of the oral trial.
The session, which had already been shortened to the morning due to Passover, will conclude at 12:30 local time due to one of the jurors’ appointment with the dentist.
This is “electoral interference,” said the Republican magnate upon arriving at the Manhattan Supreme Court. “It’s a sad day for America,” he added.
If convicted, Trump could be sentenced to up to four years in prison and even be stripped of their right to vote. If he were to win the November election against the Democratic challenger, current President Joe Biden, he could also become the first president to govern from prison.
Photo: Reuters
Trump trial will be extraordinary
“It is going to be the most extraordinary trial probably in the history of the country. The stakes are almost infinite in terms of what the consequences could be” for the magnate, the former prosecutor and current law professor told AFP. Pace University of New York, Bennett Gershman.
The Prosecutor’s Office will have to prove that Trump orchestrated or at least authorized his then personal lawyer Michael Cohen so that he would put the money out of his own pocket for former actress Stormy Daniels, which was later returned to him in installment payments disguised as legal expenses.
In the case, the Prosecutor’s Office also includes other agreements similar to that of Daniels to cover up other potential scandals such as that of a former Playboy magazine model and a janitor who said that Trump had had a child out of wedlock.
“This case is about the rule of law and whether Donald Trump violated it,” one of the prosecutors, Joshua Steinglass, said during jury selection last week.
His boss, the prosecutor of the Manhattan Supreme Court, Alvin Bragg, who inherited the case from his predecessor and after many hesitation accused the magnate, it is a case of electoral interference.
To support this theory, in addition to Cohen, prosecutors will call other former Trump collaborators, and now enemies, to testify.
The first to take the stand will be David Peckerformer president of the publishing company of the National Enquirer tabloid, who bought to bury them, stories that could affect the magnate during his electoral campaign.
“Every day we are going to hear from witnesses damaging to Donald Trump,” Gershman predicted.
The Republican billionaire, who feels like a victim of a “witch hunt” and calls the trial a “hoax,” laments that while his rival campaigns, he must go to the old Manhattan courtroom every day.
Trump, who survived two impeachment attempts during his presidency, also faces three other criminal cases, two of them for much more serious charges, such as trying to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat and for the management of secret documents after leaving the presidency. presidency, which have been so delayed that they are unlikely to be held before the elections.
