Trump was found guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records in New York. Former President Donald Trump has been found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records after being indicted last year by a Manhattan grand jury, making him the first former president in American history to be convicted of a crime.
TRUMP
Prosecutors alleged that Trump engaged in a “scheme” to boost his chances during the 2016 presidential election through a series of hush money payments made by others and the falsification of New York business records to cover up that alleged criminal conduct.
Michael Cohen, who was once Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and fixer, is expected to take the stand Monday as the prosecution’s star witness in the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president.
The trial centers on allegations the former president falsified his company’s internal records to obscure the true nature of reimbursement payments to Cohen, who arranged hush money payments to bury negative stories about him during his 2016 presidential race.
The witnesses include a porn actor, a former tabloid publisher, and Cohen, who went to federal prison for his role in the hush money matter and for other crimes, including lying to Congress. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass forewarned prospective jurors that they have “what you might consider to be some baggage.”
DEFENDANT
DONALD TRUMP — The former president of the United States and the presumptive Republican nominee, who parlayed his success as reality television star and celebrity businessman and won the presidential election in 2016, becoming America’s 45th president. The trial involves allegations that he falsified his company’s records to hide the true nature of payments to Cohen, who helped bury negative stories about him during the 2016 presidential campaign. He’s pleaded not guilty.
WITNESSES
Michael Cohen—Trump’s former lawyer and fixer. He was once a fierce Trump ally, but now he’s a key prosecution witness against his former boss. Cohen worked for the Trump Organization from 2006 to 2017. He later went to federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations relating to the hush money arrangements and unrelated crimes. STORMY DANIELS—The porn actor who received a $130,000 payment from Cohen as part of his hush-money efforts. Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet about what she says was a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
KAREN MCDOUGAL—a former Playboy model who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. She was paid $150,000 in 2016 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for the rights to her story about the alleged relationship. Trump denies having sex with McDougal.
The former president pleads not guilty to 34 felony charges of falsifying business records stemming from his hush payment to Daniels. Prosecutors allege that he engaged in a “scheme” to boost his election chances during the 2016 presidential race through a series of hush money payments made by others to help his campaign and then “repeatedly and fraudulently falsified New York business records” to conceal that criminal conduct. Trump immediately returns to Mar-a-Lago, where he gives a speech to supporters the same night, criticizing Bragg for bringing charges and adding, “We are a nation in decline, and now these radical left lunatics want to interfere in elections by using law enforcement. We can’t let that happen.”
TRUMP’S LAWYERS
TODD BLANCHE A former federal prosecutor, Blanche previously represented Trump’s former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, in a mortgage fraud case — and got it thrown out. Blanche successfully argued that the case, brought by the same prosecutor’s office now taking on Trump, was too similar to one that landed Manafort in federal prison and therefore amounted to double jeopardy.
SUSAN NECHELES A former Brooklyn prosecutor, Necheles is a respected New York City defense lawyer who represented Trump’s company at its tax fraud trial last year. In the past she served as counsel to the late Genovese crime family underboss Venero Mangano, known as Benny Eggs, and defended John Gotti’s lawyer, Bruce Cutler, in the early 90s.
EMIL BOVE — A star college lacrosse player, Bove was a veteran federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York. He was involved in multiple high-profile prosecutions, including a drug-trafficking case against the former Honduran president’s brother, a man who set off a pressure cooker device in Manhattan and a man who sent dozens of mail bombs to prominent targets across the country.
THE JUDGE
Juan M. Merchan—the judge presiding over the case. He was also the judge in the Trump Organization’s tax fraud trial in 2022 and is overseeing a border wall fraud case against longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon. Merchan has twice denied requests by Trump’s lawyers that he step aside from the case. They contend he is biased because his daughter runs a political consulting firm that has worked for Democrats, including President Joe Biden. Merchan has said he is certain of his “ability to be fair and impartial.”
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