Trump’s Criminal Trial: Witness Lineup and Trial Details

TFD – Delve into the upcoming criminal trial of Donald Trump in New York, centering on the hush money scandal. Discover the key witnesses from Trump’s inner circle set to testify and the significant details surrounding the trial.

On Monday, the criminal trial of Donald Trump for the hush money scandal in New York will commence, over a year after the former president was charged in the case.

Numerous well-known witnesses, including people who were in Trump’s inner circle during the 2016 election, are anticipated to testify in the trial, which will start with jury selection, sources have told TFD.

These individuals are noteworthy in this instance.

Trump, Donald

The former president is charged with participating in a criminal conspiracy to taint the 2016 election and a criminal scheme to stifle criticism, which involved paying hush money to an adult film star in order to cover up an affair. The affair has been denied by Trump.

Prosecutors claim that in order to “promote his candidacy,” Trump repeatedly altered corporate papers and passed off the transaction as a legitimate payment.

There are 34 charges against Trump for forging company paperwork. He entered a not guilty plea.

Daniel Stormy

Days before the 2016 presidential election, adult film star Stephanie Clifford, better known by her stage name Stormy Daniels, received a $130,000 payment.

In a documentary that was published this month, she disclosed that, in order to keep her husband and children safe, she took the money to conceal her one-night affair with Trump from being made public in 2006.

After the documentary was released, Trump’s lawyers attempted to prevent Daniels from testifying, claiming that there should be grounds to dismiss the indictment or postpone the trial. These arguments were rejected, however the judge did postpone the trial for different reasons.

Michael A. Cohen

At the time, Cohen served as Trump’s personal attorney. He paid Daniels $130,000, and as a result, he broke campaign finance regulations and was sent to federal jail. Cohen, now a critical witness, has said that Trump directed him to make the payment to Daniels.

Last month, the motion made by Trump and his legal team to prevent Cohen from testifying was turned down. They claimed that Cohen had previously lied under oath in prior instances.

David Pecker

David Pecker was involved in multiple “catch and kill” plots on behalf of Trump while serving as the chairperson of American Media Inc., the company that publishes the National Inquirer. He also reportedly assisted in mediating the arrangement with Daniels.

According to court documents, an agent for Daniels contacted AMI in October 2016 and said that she was willing to go public with her allegations of an affair with Trump. Pecker then allegedly contacted Cohen, who subsequently negotiated the deal, per court filings from Cohen’s plea agreement.

In a different incident, model and actress Karen McDougal received a $150,000 payment from AMI a few months prior to the 2016 election in exchange for her quiet on an alleged romance with Trump. While this payment is not part of the charges against Trump, prosecutors are expected to use it to establish a pattern of such payments.

Pecker received immunity in return for his testimony, and prosecutors and AMI agreed to a non-prosecution agreement.

A Hope Hicks

Hope Hicks, the press secretary for Trump’s campaign at the time, allegedly called Cohen the day after a “Access Hollywood” tape featuring Trump making lewd remarks about how he treats women was made public. Cohen was asked to prevent more sexually explicit claims from being made public.

From there, Cohen was involved in at least ten phone calls that day, serving as a mediator between Trump and Hicks and Pecker and another AMI officer.

According to a person familiar with the matter, Hicks is anticipated to be asked to testify, as TFD has previously reported.

Alvin Bragg, District Attorney for Manhattan

Alvin Bragg oversaw the multi-year investigation that his predecessor, the Manhattan district attorney, started when Trump was still in the White House, into the former president’s role in the hush money payment.

Since the accusations were filed, Trump has criticized Bragg on multiple occasions in an effort to portray the investigation as having political motivations.

Juan Merchan, the judge

This case will be heard by New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan, who is renowned for keeping order in his courtroom even in high-profile cases.

He has already been involved in numerous matters involving Trump and his friends, such as the tax fraud trial of the Trump Organization, the criminal fraud case involving former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, and the sentence of Allen Weisselberg, Trump’s longtime senior financial officer.

Trump has attacked the judge and his daughter for her political work for Democratic candidates, and he has filed two requests for Merchan to be removed from the case. Last year, Merchan denied the initial motion. Last Monday, Trump’s plea for additional emergency relief to halt the trial so he could appeal a lower court’s decision about presidential immunity and have the judge removed from the case was denied.

The former president is also prohibited from speaking about lawyers, court employees, or the relatives of prosecutors, lawyers, court employees, or the Manhattan district attorney by a gag order that Merchan placed on him.