Topline
Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial will begin Monday in Manhattan, as the ex-president goes on trial for felony charges stemming from “hush money” payments made during his 2016 campaign—an expected weeks-long proceeding that could feature high-profile witnesses and ultimately land Trump in prison.
Key Facts
The trial is slated to start on Monday in New York state court with jury selection and run for approximately six weeks, though it remains unclear how long it will take to seat the jury before opening arguments can begin.
Trump faces 34 felony charges for falsifying business records, based on payments he allegedly made to reimburse ex-attorney Michael Cohen after the lawyer paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to cover up her alleged affair with Trump—with Trump allegedly falsely labeling those reimbursement payments as being for legal services.
The charges were brought by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, which will lead the prosecution against Trump.
While it’s still unclear who exactly will testify at trial, witnesses could include Daniels, Cohen, model Karen McDougal—who was also paid after alleging she had an affair with Trump—American Media CEO David Pecker and Trump aides, including longtime assistant Rhona Graff and former White House aides Hope Hicks and Kellyanne Conway.
Trump has voluntarily shown up at court hearings in the past in his civil cases, but he’ll be legally required to attend the Manhattan trial as a criminal defendant—though he also has a deposition scheduled to take place on Monday in a separate legal case, making it unclear if he’ll be present for all the proceedings that day or if the judge could grant a brief exception allowing him to be deposed.
Each count Trump has been charged with is a class “E” felony under New York law punishable by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine—meaning he could be sentenced to a maximum of 136 years in prison and a $170,000 fine if he were convicted on every count, though that’s unlikely.
Chief Critic
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, decrying the case as a “witch hunt” designed to harm his presidential campaign and repeatedly attacking Judge Juan Merchan, who’s overseeing the case, and Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. In a motion to dismiss the charges against him—which ultimately failed—Trump’s attorneys have argued that the ex-president is innocent, alleging he “cannot be said to have falsified business records of the Trump Organization by paying his personal attorney using his personal bank accounts.” Trump’s lawyers have also claimed the case is “politically motivated” and that the charges were brought too late.
What To Watch For
Trump has been repeatedly trying to delay his trial from starting on Monday, filing a series of last-ditch attempts to postpone the proceedings in recent days that have included asking the court to pause the trial while he appeals the gag order against him, asking Judge Juan Merchan to recuse himself and arguing some evidence is barred by “presidential immunity”—even after previous attempts to make those arguments have failed in court. Those efforts have all so far been unsuccessful, with a New York appeals court ruling against the ex-president three times this week alone on his motions to stall the trial. It remains unclear how many more times Trump will seek to delay the trial before it begins, though so far there’s little indication that any of his attempts will succeed.
What We Don’t Know
What punishment Trump will actually face if he’s convicted. Though Trump’s alleged crimes could result in a lengthy prison sentence, legal experts largely believe it’s unlikely the ex-president would be sentenced to prison time as a first-time offender based on charges in this case. (Trump also separately faces the threat of prison time in the three other criminal cases against him.)
Surprising Fact
Falsifying bank records, the alleged crime that Trump’s been charged with, is typically a misdemeanor under New York law, and only gets elevated to a felony if the records were used to facilitate another crime. That’s what prosecutors have argued here—all 34 counts against Trump are classified as felonies—claiming Trump’s payments to Cohen were done to further campaign finance and tax-related crimes. Paying “hush money” to keep someone quiet is not in itself a crime, unless it’s something like bribery or blackmail.
Key Background
Trump was indicted in March 2023 following a yearslong investigation by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office over the “hush money” payments. Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in the weeks before the 2016 election to cover up her allegations of having an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump then allegedly reimbursed Cohen $420,000—for the Daniels payment, a separate expense, a $60,000 bonus and enough money to cover the taxes on the payment—which prosecutors allege was reimbursed through a series of monthly $35,000 payments disguised as legal payments through a retainer agreement. The first payments were allegedly made through the Trump Organization, while Trump allegedly paid the last nine personally out of his own bank account, though his company facilitated the transfer to Cohen. Reports emerged in 2018 of the $130,000 payment and Cohen ultimately pleaded guilty to campaign finance, tax evasion and other crimes related to the payment. The “hush money” case is one of four criminal cases that have been brought against Trump over the past year, though it is the first to go to trial—and so far the only one in which a trial date has actually been set.
