The first criminal trial of a former US president will begin on March 25. This is what Judge Juan Merchan of New York has decided, after rejecting Donald Trump’s motion to drop the 34 charges related to document falsification that are charged against him for the 2016 bribery of porn actress Stormy Daniels. Trump falsified, in the middle of the campaign, accounting statements to hide this payment as “legal fees”, intended to calm her down about the extramarital relationship they had had a decade ago, and which Daniels had threatened to make public.
Jury selection will begin in Manhattan court next month. Trump, who has denounced the accusation for having built a case against him based on “politically motivated charges”, was present at the preliminary hearing this Thursday. The criminal indictment, presented last year by District Attorney Alvin Bragg, is the first to go to trial of the four that face Trump for 91 crimes in Washington, Georgia and Florida, in addition to this one in New York.
The decision represents a new judicial blow to the tycoon, who has based his legal strategy on delaying all trials as much as possible, if possible, until after the presidential elections in November. If he is elected president, he will be able to withdraw the federal charges against him – Washington and Florida – but not in this state case, which is moving forward as planned despite its litigation.
In addition to the four imputations, Trump has already been convicted of sexual abuse and defamation in two civil cases in New York, and awaits the verdict in the fraud case with the Trump Organization, also in that state, for having inflated the value of their assets to obtain advantageous conditions from banks and insurance companies.
Prosecutor Bragg has framed the Stormy Daniels case beyond document falsification, the main charge Trump is formally charged with, and has argued that it is aggravated by the campaign context in which the bribe was given, of $130,000. A campaign, that of 2016, after which Trump emerged victorious and lost popular support by 3 million votes.
This case comes ahead of the one in Washington, which was initially scheduled for March 4, but is on hold indefinitely after the appeal presented by Trump, who alleges immunity, and which is in the hands of the Supreme Court.
This Thursday, before entering the court, Trump said in front of the press that the case is part of the judicial persecution of the “White House of Joe Biden”, despite the fact that this case is state and not federal, so that the Department of Justice has no role. The tycoon pleaded “not guilty” and reiterated his argument that there is a witch hunt against him. The judge plans for the trial to proceed quickly and the sentence will arrive six weeks after the start of the trial, that is, at the beginning of May. The defense lawyer, Todd Blanche, has demanded more time to prepare and has described the trial as unfair, since according to him it interferes with his candidacy to return to the White House.
The former president and candidate has benefited, financially and electorally, from the court cases against him. He clearly dominates the Republican primaries and his intention to vote is already approaching 45%, equal to that of Biden, his likely rival in November.
