Opening statements will begin Monday morning versus the people of New York State Donald Trumpthe former president’s first criminal conviction.
The trial’s first witness is also expected to appear, although cross-examination will take place later in the week.
After the judge gives the instructions, the lawyers for both sides will give their opening statements Jury of 12 people and six alternatives.
Prosecutors from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office are expected to reveal what they call an “unlawful conspiracy” designed to “conceal criminal acts that withheld damaging information from the public during the 2016 presidential election.”
They claim that Trump worked with his lawyer at the time Michael Cohen and executives at the National Enquirer to suppress scandalous stories involving an adult movie star Stormy Daniels and a Playboy model Karen McDougal. Daniels says she slept with Trump in 2006, and McDougal says she had sex with Trump for 10 months, which ended in April 2007. Trump has denied sleeping with both women.
Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet, and Enquirer publisher AMI paid McDougal $150,000. After being elected president, Trump paid Cohen in a series of payments that prosecutors allege were fraudulently marked as legal expenses. Trump acknowledged paying Cohen back, but maintained that the payments were legal and that he had done nothing wrong.
Trump’s faces 34 numbers The falsification of business records related to a hush money payment to Daniels in the final days of the 2016 presidential campaign. A former president he pleaded not guilty he could face up to four years in prison if convicted of the charges.
Cohen, Daniels and McDougal, as well as a former AMI chief David Peckeris expected to testify in the trial, which is expected to take six weeks.
It is not clear who will appear for the prosecution on Monday. The DA’s office declined to comment Friday.
Todd Blanch will make an opening statement for the defense. He is expected to argue that Trump has done nothing wrong and that jurors can’t trust what Cohen and Daniels said because they both have an ax to grind against the former president.
The the jury consists of seven men and five women. The last day of jury selection, Friday, was particularly special tight, some potential jurors broke down in tears and said they were too anxious to sit on the jury. They were excused. One day he saw a man he burned himself outside the courthouse.
Monday’s trial will be a little shorter. Judge Juan Merchan Due to the Easter holiday, the court will recess on Monday and Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. ET, he said.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass said in court Friday that the DA’s office plans to call a witness on Monday and that direct testimony is expected to take the rest of the day after opening statements. On Friday, Trump’s lawyer Susan Necheles asked for the identity of the witness, but Steinglass refused to reveal it, noting that Trump has attacked witnesses in his social media posts, including on social media. partial congestion order prohibits such actions.
The judge called Steinglass’ position “understandable” and said he would not order prosecutors to release the witness before Sunday.