Judge Warns Donald Trump: Come to Court for Hush Money Trial or Face Jail Time
Judge Juan Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money trial, started off with a strong warning to former President Donald Trump: to attend the trial or risk detention. According to Mediate, this marked the dramatic beginning of the criminal case, and the judge's words have added to the gravity of an already historic occasion, given that this is the first time a former U.S. president has been tried as a criminal defendant. According to MSNBC's Vice President of Editorial and Booking, Jesse Rodriguez, Merchan told Trump, “If you do not show up, there will be an arrest.”
The prosecution and defense teams were busy figuring out how to pick a jury when the proceedings started. Judge Merchan was presented with 96 potential jury members for screening, but almost half of them were excused because of doubts about their impartiality. Merchan made crucial decisions about acceptable evidence, laying the groundwork for how the trial would go.
Trump repeatedly falsified business records to conceal criminal conduct, aka his scheme to boost his election chances in 2016 by making hush money payments.
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) April 16, 2024
Those actions are at the core of his ongoing trial in New York—and may have altered the outcome of the 2016 election.
As mentioned by CNN, the jury selection procedure plays a major part in the story of the trial because of his previous trial in NY; every potential juror's history and prejudices were closely examined. Trump's online presence has consistently been a source of controversy, and Merchan's upcoming hearing on the prosecution's request to penalize him for apparent violations of the gag order is poised to be a crucial juncture in the trial.
Before Trump ran for president, some women said they had intimate relationships with him and got paid a lot of cash in the months right before the 2016 election. Karen McDougal, a model who posed for Playboy magazine, was one of them. She got $150,000 from American Media Inc., the company that owned the National Enquirer magazine. Karen was paid for her story about Trump, but the outlet never published it. This strategy is called a 'catch and kill'—when you buy someone's story to make sure it never gets out. American Media allegedly paid hush money to a former Trump Tower doorman, too, who made an unverified claim that Trump had a child nobody knew about, as per People.
Many correctly point out that calling this the “hush money” trial is inaccurate and misleading.
— Radical Centrist (@radicalcntrsts) April 16, 2024
I suggest calling this Trump’s “2016 election interference” trial. That was his intent, and it points to his attempts to gain power through deception spanning multiple elections.
As mentioned by CNN, the second woman, who was born Stephanie Clifford but built a career in the adult film industry as Stormy Daniels, was paid $130,000 by Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, to sign a nondisclosure agreement about her encounters with Trump. Cohen obtained a line of credit on his home to make the payment just before the election. Trump’s campaign was particularly worried about allegations of sexual impropriety in the final days of the 2016 election as the release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump described grabbing women by the genitals, dominated news coverage.
After the election, Trump’s company allegedly paid Cohen back for the payment to Daniels. The Wall Street Journal reported on the AMI catch-and-kill scheme and that Daniels had been in talks to share her story days before Election Day in 2016. McDougal and Daniels shared the same lawyer. But things did not blow up until January 2018, when the Journal reported on the payments Cohen made to Daniels. With all this said, one thing is clear as the trial proceeds: the country's eyes are focused on the courtroom, anticipating the conclusion of a chapter that will surely make an enduring impression on American history.
