Donald Trump to be first US president to face criminal trial

Former US president Donald Trump is embroiled in four criminal cases amid his campaign to return to power in November’s election rematch against President Joe Biden. Here’s what you need to know.

Former US president Donald Trump will on Tuesday become the first president in history to face a criminal trial.

The charges against him in New York represent one of four criminal cases Mr Trump is embroiled in, amid his campaign to return to power in November’s election rematch against President Joe Biden.

Former US President Donald Trump. Picture: AFP

Here’s what you need to know about this unprecedented saga.

What is the trial that starts this week?

Mr Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over a $US130,000 ($A196,000) hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, which was designed to silence her claim that they had an affair.

Stormy Daniels. Picture: AFP

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. Picture: Getty Images/AFP

The charges were brought a year ago by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who upgraded them to felonies by accusing Mr Trump of falsifying the records to conceal election law violations.

The potential sentence for each count stretches from probation to a four-year prison term.

How will the trial affect his presidential campaign?

Mr Trump is the presumptive Republican candidate for November’s election.

But for at least the next six weeks, he will have to spend Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in Manhattan’s criminal courthouse, squeezing any campaign events around the trial.

What are the other criminal cases involving Mr Trump?

Two of them – one at a federal level and one in Georgia – relate to his alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat.

Stacks of boxes in the White and Gold Ballroom of former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida. Former US president Donald Trump has been charged with alleged mishandling of classified documents. Picture: US Justice Department/AFP

The third centres on his alleged mishandling of classified documents after losing that election, and his obstruction of official efforts to retrieve those files.

Will those trials happen before the election?

We don’t know yet. The classified documents trial has been set for May 20, but that looks far from certain as Mr Trump’s lawyers seek to delay it.

Prosecutors in Georgia had hoped to begin the trial there on August 5, although their case has been bogged down in an extraordinary legal battle over a secret relationship between the lawyers in charge of the case against Mr Trump.

A mob attack on a police officer when crowds stormed Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. Former President Donald Trump has argued he had full immunity for his actions while in office.

The federal election subversion trial is currently on hold ahead of a Supreme Court hearing on April 25 in which Mr Trump will argue he has full immunity for his actions in the Oval Office. Even if he loses, that case will not restart for at least several months.

Who are the key players in the trial?

Could Mr Trump go to jail?

It is possible. But if he is re-elected, he could dismiss the federal cases against him, or pardon himself if he had already been found guilty and sentenced.

That presidential power does not extend to the state cases in Georgia or New York.

Is he facing any other legal jeopardy?

Yes. Mr Trump has also been hit with heavy penalties in two civil cases in New York, both of which he is appealing.

Writer E. Jean Carroll. Picture: AFP

He was ordered to pay $US83m ($A123m) to E. Jean Carroll, a writer who launched a defamation suit against him after winning a civil action in which he was found liable of sexually abusing her in the 1990s.

He was also fined $US454m ($A685m) in a civil fraud case in which he was found to have fraudulently inflated his wealth to obtain better deals from banks and insurance companies.