Donald Trump arrives in New York court for criminal trial over hush money – The Guardian US
Ex-president becomes first US leader to face a criminal trial, in this case, for paying Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal for a cover-up
Donald Trump has entered the courtroom in his criminal hush-money trial involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels and the Playboy model Karen McDougal. The trial starts this morning, with jury selection in Manhattan supreme court.
Moments before Trump entered the courtroom, wearing his usual uniform of a navy suit and crimson tie, he spoke in the hallway.
“This is an assault on America. Nothing like this has ever happened before, there’s never been anything like it,” Trump told a group of reporters. “This is political persecution.”
He called it “a case that should have never been brought” and “an assault on our country, and it’s a country that’s failing, it’s a country that’s run by an incompetent man and is very much involved in this case.
“This is really an attack on a political opponent, that is all it is.”
He walked into the courtroom behind his defense attorney Todd Blanche, licked his lips and continued with a hunched posture and what appeared to be a scowl.
The proceedings mark a momentous day in US history, as Trump is the country’s first president – current or former – to face a criminal trial. They also play out against a presidential race in which Trump is the almost certain Republican nominee who regularly bests Joe Biden in head-to-head polls.
Trump arrived at the New York criminal court for the start of jury selection shortly after 9am. He left his residence at Trump Tower and entered a motorcade, travelling to court with his lawyers, including Todd Blanche and Emil Bove. In room 1523 at the 100 Centre Street courthouse journalists started taking their seats on wooden benches shortly after 8am. There are two large television screens where those in attendance will be able to watch video and listen to jury selection, which is in room 1530, just down the hall.
Before prospective jurors are brought into the courtroom, it is likely that both sides will confer briefly over outstanding issues. Whenever that wraps, Trump is poised to start facing potential panelists, who will be screened for potential biases in a selection process that will easily take at least one week.
The criminal case against Trump stems from an alleged scheme to cover up purported liaisons with Daniels and McDougal ahead of the 2016 general election.
Prosecutors say that Trump, who was indicted in spring 2023 on 34 counts of falsifying business records, participated in an alleged “catch-and-kill scheme” from August 2015 until December 2017 through his then lawyer, Michael Cohen. They said that he did so out of concern that the alleged extramarital encounters with Daniels and McDougal could harm Trump’s candidacy.
Cohen, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to federal charges for his involvement in that particular hush-money scheme, wired $130,000 to Daniels’ then attorney only 12 days before the election. Cohen shuttled this money through a shell company, which he established and funded at a bank in Manhattan, prosecutors said.
After Trump won the election, he paid Cohen back with a series of monthly checks. At first these checks came from the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust – which was set up in New York to hold the president’s namesake company’s assets during his presidency. Payments to Cohen later came from Trump’s bank account, prosecutors said.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office said that Trump provided 11 checks under illicit pretenses – and signed nine of them. The Trump Organization, prosecutors said, processed these checks “disguised as a payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement”.
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By casting these payments as compensation for legal work, he “made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise”, prosecutors said. Trump did so “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof …”
With the scheme involving McDougal, the National Enquirer’s publisher, AMI, paid her $150,000. AMI reached out to Cohen after McDougal’s lawyer contacted the National Enquirer, in the hopes of selling her story about Trump. AMI brokered a deal with McDougal to purchase her “limited life rights” to her account of a relationship with “any married man”, according to a non-prosecution agreement between AMI and Manhattan federal prosecutors.
Trump, prosecutors said, told Cohen to repay AMI with cash. Cohen insisted that AMI be repaid via a shell company. In the end AMI, owned by the Trump crony David Pecker – did not accept repayment after consulting with their counsel, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.
In another concealment plot, Pecker came to learn that a former Trump Tower doorman was trying to sell information about a child Trump allegedly had out of wedlock. AMI paid him $30,000 for the story, prosecutors said.
The story did not check out – AMI did not investigate before issuing the payment – but Cohen told Pecker not to release the doorman from the agreement until after the election. Pecker said yes, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said that the arrangement between Trump, Cohen and Pecker stemmed from a summer 2015 meeting at Trump Tower about two months after the real estate mogul announced his candidacy. Pecker said he would help with Trump’s run and promised to be his “eyes and ears” by keeping apprised of negative stories – and notifying Cohen before they surfaced.