Nueva York y Washington. Donald Trump has a court date this Monday of New York where he will be the first former US president in history to be subject to a criminal trial, the first of the four criminal proceedings against him.
New York prosecutors in this local prosecution have charged Trump with 34 counts related to falsifying financial reports to cover up hush money payments to a porn star in 2016 and two other people, and they are serious crimes because they were part of a maneuver to hide information harmful to the candidate from voters.
The charges carry a sentence of up to four years in prison, but everything indicates that even if he is found guilty he will not be imprisoned.
The virtual Republican presidential candidate is managing to turn this into a political spectacle to benefit his campaign. And if he wins—as some polls so far indicate—he could be the first convicted felon to occupy the White House.
As has always been his strategy in the face of the multiple accusations against him throughout his adult life, Trump is accusing his accusers. He has stated that this, like the other cases against him, are part of a great effort by the Democrats and “the radical left” to “politicize” the judiciary to prevent him from winning the elections and he has projected himself as a martyr for the cause (yours). He repeats that it is “a political witch hunt” and “electoral interference.”
In this particular case, and despite prohibitions imposed by Judge Juan Merchan, Trump has continually attacked the judge, the prosecutors and the witnesses in the case, including their families. He accused the prosecutor of following orders from President Joe Biden, and the judge’s daughter as a Democratic operative. He has also attacked one of the main witnesses, Michael Cohen, who was one of his personal lawyers and who handled the undercover payments.
On Saturday, at a rally for his election campaign he declared that this is a “communist rigged trial,” but that it is “an honor” to be accused, since “I am proud to do it for all of you,” he told his fans as if he were a leader. Persecuted politician defending his movement.
Trump has managed to postpone the other three criminal trials pending against him with all kinds of legal maneuvers. This is considered the least damaging to his candidacy, although it is the only one proceeding for now before the election. The others revolve around charges of electoral interference (one federal, one state) and illegal handling of secret official documents.
If Trump wins the presidency, he can pardon himself in the two federal cases, but not in the local ones like the one that begins this Monday in New York, nor the other one in Atlanta that is currently on hold. But even if he is found guilty in any of these other cases, like the one he brings in New York, the Constitution does not prohibit him from being president.
Trump has lost two of the civil cases against him earlier this year, both in New York. The first concluded in favor of a woman who accused him of defamation over her allegations that she had been sexually raped by him, with a court order to pay $83 million. The second was for corporate fraud that culminated in an order to pay $454 million – a ruling he is now appealing. But civil cases only involve money, criminals can end with prison sentences.
For now, Trump is required, like the defendant in a criminal case, to be present throughout the trial, although he can ask the judge for permission to be absent if necessary. But it is assumed that he will be present most of the time – the trial is scheduled to meet four days a week and last possibly 6 to 8 weeks – and with that, his electoral campaign will move to this city. He is expected to stay overnight at his Trump Tower apartment on Fifth Avenue, and that he will schedule campaign events on the weekends.
The trial will become part of his campaign, and the national media, along with police and the Secret Service, will line the benches in front of the courthouse, and perhaps both protesters and supporters of the former president.
The trial itself will have soap opera elements, as the charges relate to payments made to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she and the defendant had a brief sexual encounter in 2006. Furthermore, she has revealed physical details of the encounter, including that the former president’s penis looks like a mushroom, and that the encounter was very quick and not at all pleasant. Trump also paid for the silence of a former Playboy model among others who will be part of this trial.
The first stage of the trial that begins this Monday is the selection of a jury made up of 12 people and 6 alternates – a process that could last days.
#president #face #criminal #trial
– 2024-04-15 04:52:48
