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CNN
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With Donald Trump potentially returning to the Oval Office next year, the United States on Monday will cross a historic threshold for the first time a former president faces a criminal trial in a case with fateful implications.
When the presumptive Republican nominee appears in court to begin jury selection, it is almost certain that the legal and political worlds will clash in a trial that will deepen the bitter ideological alienation of the American people. He and the country will enter a new state of reality.
The case, related to hush money payments made to adult film actresses before the 2016 election, has sparked nearly nine years of political turmoil by Trump, who has continually tested the limits of presidential civility and the law. There will be another unusual twist in the president’s story. It may continue for many more years. Depending on the jury’s verdict, the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election could become a convicted felon. And given the subject matter of the case — details about payments to women who say they had sexual relations with Trump, which Trump denies — it’s important to note that voters will be weighing their decision in November. , it may not reflect Trump’s personality or ethics very well.
Paying hush money is not illegal. In an early example of election interference, President Trump is accused of falsifying business records to keep voters informed of unsightly information that could harm his campaign. The fact that this case stems from allegations of personal conduct means it may have less political impact than President Trump’s other three pending trials, which The case is rooted in larger constitutional and legal concerns related to presidential power.
But other lawsuits related to his attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the hoarding of classified documents are likely to be preceded by hush money trials due to the former president’s successful legal delay strategy. There is a possibility that it will be only. And while President Trump has the same presumption of innocence and the right to discovery as any other defendant, the prospect of a trial and the humiliation it represents for once the most powerful man in the United States. He is showing signs of becoming increasingly agitated. world.
Still, if he had to choose one of the four cases to come to a conclusion before the election, it would be this one.
The United States, unlike historically unstable democracies, is not a country accustomed to having former heads of state put on trial. While the circumstances of this case and Mr. Trump’s extensive legal troubles are unique, this new precedent opens up the possibility that future presidents could be subject to legal investigation without too much of a leap of faith. Indeed, Trump has already warned that if he wins in November, he will dedicate his second presidency to “vengeance” and use the power of his office to go after his enemies, including the Biden family.
None of this is normal. But this is all part of the extreme political, legal, and constitutional challenges that President Trump consistently poses to U.S. institutions, and some have suggested will intensify if he wins a second term. are doing. The constant cacophony caused by his volcanic personality is by design, making it difficult for Americans to process the individual Rubicons they cross.
The former president has made fervent attempts to delegitimize cases, judges, and the legal system itself, in part to avoid future guilty verdicts. He accused Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat who is leading the prosecution, of political bias. Judge Juan Machan also expanded the gag order after President Trump named his daughter, who has worked for Democrats, on social media.
The trial will not be televised but is sure to become a national spectacle over a period expected to last between six weeks and two months. In previous civil cases, including a massive fraud case against him, Trump has used court breaks to stage freely rolling and often angry televised news conferences, attacking the integrity of the courts. and was trying to convey the issues in the lawsuit. He was often a domineering defendant who violated the court’s code of conduct and infuriated judges. At one point during the civil fraud trial, Judge Arthur Engoron admonished President Trump for using the courtroom as a campaign venue, asking his lawyer, “Can you control your client?”
Despite Trump’s claims about unfair treatment by the justice system, many other defendants likely faced even harsher treatment for their attacks on judges, prosecutors, and court officials.
The Manhattan trial is held four days a week, but the former president is required to attend at a time when President Joe Biden is free to visit battleground states. This is one reason why Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign will follow the traditional White House bid rhythm in court.
Mr. Trump’s appearance in court on Monday will be one of immense drama and a test for members of a group of Americans who will be examined as jurors like no other in American history. “He’s the most famous person in the world, and when you come face-to-face with someone of that kind of charisma and power, it tends to be intimidating, shocking, and exciting,” said juror Robert Hirsch. Horn said. a clinical trial consultant told CNN on Friday.
The task of finding jurors who do not have strong opinions or prejudices against the defendant or the legal system., In any case, deciding who can serve for a long time and making decisions based solely on law and evidence is complicated. Because Trump is the defendant, legal experts say jury selection could take more than a week and must be completed before prosecutors can make opening arguments against the former president. We predict that there will be.
But as President Trump contemplates the start of his trial, he realizes that his own fate is now out of his hands, and that he will soon be exposed to the fate of 12 anonymous citizens, who he will not bully or bully. There seems to be an understanding that persuasion and politicization are not allowed. “Jury selection is mostly luck. It depends on who you get. It’s very unfair for me to be tried there,” President Trump said Friday, alluding to New York City’s liberal leanings. .
President Trump has already used the trial as a circus to further strengthen his legal defense and campaign chiefs’ claims that he is being persecuted by “deranged prosecutors” seeking to prevent him from returning to the Oval Office. I’m trying to change it to At the Conservative Party Political Action Conference in February, he described himself as a “proud dissident” and compared himself to South African anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. On Saturday night, President Trump embarked on an unprecedented back and forth between criminal justice and campaigning in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, pledging to “fight for the freedom of 325 million Americans.” On Sunday, he used the Truth social network to explode a “blatant and unprecedented attack” on his campaign, alleging that Biden was working with Bragg. There is no evidence that this is true.
Mr. Trump’s argument is persuasive to many Republican voters who bought into his story of persecution and quickly made him their candidate this year. But will Mr. Biden be able to convince undecided general election voters that he is a victim, or will the cloud of criminality thicken in the first trial and give rise to Mr. Biden’s hopes for the White House? Will it ruin Biden’s chances of winning a second term? Some polls suggest that a small number of Republican voters may suspend voting for the former president if he is found guilty after his trial. However, the circumstances are so unusual that it is impossible to predict how the politics of conviction or acquittal will develop.
The political uncertainty surrounding the incident is further exacerbated by the context in which it is accused. The race between Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump has no clear leader in national polls and is likely to be decided by a few thousand votes in a handful of battleground states. The president’s prospects are challenged by high interest rates and rising prices that are hurting millions of Americans. Biden spent last weekend presiding over the successful defense of Israel after Iran flew hundreds of missiles and drones toward the Jewish state amid growing concerns about a broader Middle East war. Ta. The worsening situation could strengthen President Trump’s claims that the world is spiraling out of control on his successor’s watch. That means that this and the upcoming Trump trial, while an unprecedented disruption to the presidential campaign, could be just one factor in determining the fate of the White House in November.
Trump was charged in Manhattan with falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, which prosecutors say was an attempt to interfere in the 2016 election. are doing. Mr. Trump has maintained his innocence and denied his relationship with Mr. Daniels.
“Manhattan is home to the most important business market in this country. We cannot allow New York companies to manipulate records to cover up criminal activity,” Bragg said in a statement to Trump in April 2023. I wrote this when the indictment was announced. “A trail of money and lies reveals a pattern that the public claims violates,” a provision of New York’s basic and basic business law. ”
Trump’s supporters are being prosecuted under what he claims is a novel legal theory in cases stemming from personal embarrassment and campaign finance violations, making him a selective choice. He claims to be the victim of a politicized judiciary. But Mr. Bragg’s framing of the case reveals common themes with Mr. Trump’s other indictments. The question is: Is the president accountable to the same laws as other citizens, or is he above the law?
“These payments were made to deprive voters of important information and were hidden with the intent of influencing the election. …That’s what we suspect – to seize power by deceiving voters,” CNN’s Legal Analyst said. said Norm Eisen, author of the new book “Testing Trump: A Guide to the First Election Obstruction Criminal Trial.””
Eisen added: “now, Alvin Bragg may not be able to prove it, but that’s why this is a case of alleged election interference. ”
Trump’s lawyers have argued that the trial should be delayed until the Supreme Court rules on the full claim of presidential immunity stemming from the federal election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith. ing. Although the initial acts at issue in the case took place before Trump was president, prosecutors will pay compensation to lawyer Michael Cohen for providing bogus legal services while Trump was president. He claims that he signed the cover-up allegation for the purpose.
In a desperate bid to delay accountability in the hush-money case, the former president also claims he will not receive a fair trial in New York. New York, the city where he became famous, is the city where the overwhelming majority voted against him. . Marchand rejected efforts by the president’s lawyers to move the case to a jurisdiction where voters might favor Trump.
The former president is charged with 34 felony counts of first-degree falsification of business records. If convicted, he could face state prison probation or up to 18 months to four years on each charge. Many legal experts believe that as a first-time offender, Trump will not be sentenced to prison, or if he is sentenced to prison, it will be served concurrently.
Trump’s lawyers have not disclosed any possible defenses. But they are almost certain to attack the credibility and personal testimony of both Mr. Cohen and Mr. Daniels. Cohen faces criticism as an unreliable witness because he has spent time in prison after being convicted of crimes including tax evasion and lying to Congress.
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