Trump tried everything to avoid a criminal trial. The day has arrived.
Donald Trump will become the first former president to sit for a criminal trial when he appears in a New York court Monday, kicking off a highly unusual stretch in which the Republican will campaign for a new term while defending himself against accusations he directed an illegal scheme to pay off a porn star. The case of People v. Trump itself is a mixed bag, with the lowest stakes of the four prosecutions he faces.
Trump would have no mandatory prison term if convicted. Despite the salacious back story, the case at its core is about documents: whether Trump falsified the business and financial records that accounted for the hush money. Still, the case, brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, may be the only one of Trump’s criminal cases to wrap before Election Day.
The political fallout of a conviction for Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, could be severe. Some Trump supporters have said in Wall Street Journal polling and surveys of GOP primary voters that they would change their votes if he were convicted of a felony. But it could also be met with a shrug: Trump cruised to victories in presidential primaries even as his legal problems mounted, relentlessly bemoaning the charges against him as politically motivated.
The trial promises to bring a circuslike atmosphere to lower Manhattan for weeks. Barriers and a heavy law-enforcement presence are set to surround the courthouse, where, on the 15th floor, Secret Service agents will escort Trump in and out of the courtroom. Trump is required to attend the trial.
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