Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial begins in New York

Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial has begun but, as Tom Minear explains, millions of Americans will make up their own minds, with no need for fairness or impartiality.

Analysis: It is the trial you can’t look away from – except, as it turns out, if you are the defendant.

With the eyes of the world focused on the Manhattan Criminal Court, and the start of the historic criminal case against Donald Trump, the man himself appeared to doze off to sleep.

The former president has developed a knack of turning courtrooms into campaign stages over the past year, across four arrests and two civil trials amid his bid to return to power.

On Monday (local time), however, the 77-year-old wasn’t quite ready for the show to start.

The lawyers were still arguing, the jurors had yet to arrive, and the cameras were banned.

The handful of journalists allowed in the courtroom could only see the back of Trump’s head, meaning his nap was instead spotted by reporters watching a live stream down the hall.

It was an unusual moment on an unprecedented day, the start of the first criminal trial of a US president in history. But Trump is, of course, the most unusual defendant.

That much was clear when 96 prospective jurors were brought into the court.

Former US President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City. Picture: AFP

They craned their necks and lifted their heads to see the man whose fate they could hold in their hands.

“The name of this case is the People of the State of New York vs Donald Trump,” Judge Juan Merchan told them.

“The allegations are in substance that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

Throughout the week, hundreds of residents of the city Trump once called home will hear a similar spiel.

Donald Trump speaks to the press as he arrives for the first day of his trial. Picture: AFP

They will then be asked if they can make a fair and impartial decision on his guilt or innocence. More than half of the first group said they could not and were excused.

A dozen jurors will eventually be impanelled, and only one will need to be unconvinced by the claim that Trump paid hush money to cover up an affair with a porn star for him to walk free.

But across the country, millions of Americans will make up their own minds, with no need for fairness or impartiality. Convicted or not, jailed or not, Trump can still be their next president.

That’s up to them.

HISTORICAL CRIMINAL CASE

A lengthy battle has begun over who will form the jury for the historic criminal trial of Donald Trump, with scores of New Yorkers already excused because they acknowledged they could not be fair or impartial towards the former president.

On a day of drama at the start of the unprecedented case, Mr Trump appeared to doze off to sleep in the Manhattan Criminal Court, only to be threatened with jail time if he misbehaved during the trial and fines if he breached a gag order by attacking witnesses.

He is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over a $US130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, silencing her claim of an affair on the eve of the 2016 election.

“This is an assault on America … This is political persecution,” Mr Trump told reporters.

Former US President Donald Trump during the Manhattan criminal court in New York. Picture: AFP

He later complained that Judge Juan Merchan would not let him miss part of the trial in coming weeks to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation or a hearing in the Supreme Court over his immunity claim to stop a separate federal criminal prosecution.

“We’re not going to be given a fair trial. It’s a very, very sad thing,” Mr Trump said.

The judge told potential jurors that the case against the Republican – who is in the middle of his campaign to reclaim the White House – centred on allegations that the hush money was covered up “to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election”.

One woman who was excused after admitting she could not make an impartial decision about Mr Trump’s guilt or innocence was overheard saying: “I just couldn’t do it.”

About 500 Manhattan residents will filter through the jury selection process this week for a trial – the first of a US president in history – which is expected to last six weeks.

Demonstrators protest outside of Manhattan Criminal Court. Picture: AFP

On Monday (local time), Mr Trump’s legal team lost a last-ditch bid to remove the judge from the case over his daughter’s work as a Democratic political consultant.

“There is no agenda here,” Judge Merchan said in rejecting their motion.

“We want to follow the law. We want justice to be done.”

He also ordered a hearing to be held next week over a series of Mr Trump’s social media posts on the eve of the trial in which he criticised potential witnesses against. Manhattan District Attorney’s Office prosecutor Christopher Conroy called for a $US3000 fine.

“We think it is important for the court to remind Mr Trump he is a criminal defendant,” he said.

Mr Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche said his client wanted to be “present at everything” throughout the trial, prompting the judge to warn he could be jailed if he disrupted the case.

Mr Trump indicated that he understood, after the 77-year-old earlier appeared to doze off during the hearing.

Trump on trial: All the latest here from the start of the historic criminal case against the former US president. https://t.co/Dt9EsiPhmepic.twitter.com/0HA56hh3di

— Tom Minear (@tminear) April 15, 2024

In a series of legal arguments before jury selection began, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office was allowed to introduce evidence at the trial of a 2015 meeting between Mr Trump, his lawyer Michael Cohen and tabloid news empire American Media, Inc. boss David Pecker.

At that meeting, Mr Pecker offered his organisation’s help to “catch and kill” negative stories about the Republican presidential candidate by paying people off to silence their claims.

“The entire point of the Trump Tower meeting was to control the flow of information that reached the electorate to accentuate the positive, hide the negative, and exaggerate information that would be harmful to Trump’s opponents,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said.

Nadine Seiler protests against Donald Trump outside of a the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

Judge Merchan said that evidence was “necessary to complete the narrative of what took place”. He similarly allowed evidence about Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model who also claimed to have had an affair with Mr Trump.

She received $US150,000 prior to the 2016 election in a deal signed by Australian journalist Dylan Howard, AMI’s chief content officer and the editor-in-chief of its National Enquirer masthead.

Mr Blanche argued unsuccessfully that sharing Ms McDougal’s story with the jury would be “unfair prejudice through the roof”.

TDonald Trump waves as he departs Trump Tower for Manhattan Criminal Court. Picture: AFP

But Judge Merchan did decide to prevent prosecutors playing the jury a recording of Mr Trump bragging about groping women, which was leaked on the eve of the 2016 election.

He also denied an effort by Mr Steinglass to introduce evidence about allegations of sexual assault made by several women against Mr Trump, saying those claims were “complete gossip”.

The criminal case is the first of four against the Republican to go to trial ahead of what will be an extraordinary election rematch this November against President Joe Biden.

Mr Trump told reporters: “It’s a scam trial, it’s a political witch hunt.”

Originally published as Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial begins in New York