Donald Trump faces first trial of a former U.S. president

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) - Former President Donald Trump will go to court Monday as jury selection begins in his criminal trial.

The hush money case involving adult film actor Stormy Daniels will be underway after months of pretrial motions and delays. Jury selection is the first order of business, and selecting a jury for a criminal trial involving a former president is unprecedented and expected to be contentious.

The case is salacious, involving a pornstar, a former president, and a big payoff.

David Super, a professor at Georgetown Law School, outlined the trial’s priorities. “The trial is about the former president allegedly falsifying business records to conceal campaign finance violations,” he said.

Trump is facing 34 charges in this case, accused of falsifying his company’s records to hide the reason behind payments to his former attorney Michael Cohen.

The prosecution says in 2016, Cohen — under Trump’s direction — sent $130,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels as hush money for her claims of an affair she had with Trump years before.

Super said seating an impartial jury won’t be the challenge Trump’s attorney says it will be:

“The question isn’t whether one supports or doesn’t support the former president. The question is whether one can be open-minded about this case. And I think you may have a number of people, myself included, who think that even people we very much dislike should not be prosecuted or should not be convicted for things that they didn’t do or things that cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that they did do.

Court documents revealed the long list of questions potential jurors will be asked.

“They’re asking what their news sources are, that can provide you some indications. They are asked if they’ve ever been to a Trump rally or worked on a Trump presidential campaign. And other sorts of things that would indicate that someone is so deeply committed to the politics of this that they would only come out one way, or that they would be strongly prejudiced to come out one way,” said Super.

The defense hasn’t commented on its strategy, but Super doesn’t think the Former President will be testifying on his own behalf. “When you put your client on the stand, you generally want to have a good idea what they’re going to say. And then a lawyer who thinks they know what President Trump is going to say is kidding themselves,” he said.

But he said there are a few things to watch for. “I think the key issues are going to be ‘were they falsified records and why?’ And in order to win the counts that they have filed, the prosecution has to show that not only the president made false entries into the records, but they were for the purpose of getting away with campaign finance and tax law violations,” said Super.

After the jury is selected, this case will move on to opening arguments in total. The case is expected to last up to two months.

Copyright 2024 Gray DC. All rights reserved.