Donald Trump's trial gets to the heart of the matter

Donald Trump's historic trial addresses from Monday à New York charges against the former president of the United States, which risks throwing embarrassing witnesses into the spotlight. support, a harsh light behind the scenes of his conquest of the White House in 2016.

After a first week devoted to jury selection, the stage is set: 12 full jurors, seven men and five women, and six alternates, are ready to judge the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, in the case of hidden payments to buy the silence of a former porn star just before the 2016 election.

“This is going to be the most sensational trial probably American History The stakes are almost infinite”, summarizes the former New York prosecutor and law professor at Pace University in New York, Bennett Gershman.

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Former President of the United States Donald Trump during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 19, 2024 in New York © POOL – Curtis Means

The case threatens Donald Trump with conviction and a possible prison sentence a few months before the revenge he dreams of against Joe Biden on November 5.

The trial is taking place under high security on the fifteenth floor of the Manhattan court, but a terrible tragedy occurred on Friday, when a man, promoter of “conspiracy theories” according to the police, set himself on fire at the exterior of the building.

The day before his suicide, this 37-year-old man from Florida held up a sign on the spot accusing MM. Trump and Biden to jointly foment a fascist coup. Very mentally disturbed, he was arrested several times in 2023 for inconsistent criminal acts.

– Charges –

On Monday, Manhattan prosecutors are expected to present the charges to the jury and attempt to demonstrate that the file goes well beyond the 34 falsifications of accounting documents of the Trump Organization accused of the 77-year-old Republican billionaire.

Donald Trump's legal woes © AFP – Olivia BUGAULT, Sophie RAMIS

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According to the prosecution, these alleged forgeries made it possible to conceal, under the cover of “legal fees”, the payment of $130,000 to actress Stormy Daniels in exchange for her silence about a sexual relationship ten years earlier with Donald Trump, then that he was married to his wife Melania.

Donald Trump has always denied this relationship, and in his defense, who will speak after the prosecutors, the payments are part of the private sphere.

The team of prosecutor Alvin Bragg intends to prove that these are, on the contrary, fraudulent maneuvers to hide information from voters a few days before the vote and the Republican's narrow victory against Hillary Clinton.

Several witnesses are expected to reveal the underbelly of the campaign and recount that other embarrassing allegations had been suppressed thanks to the complicity of 'an American tabloid which bought the information so as not to publish it.

“Every day we are going to hear testimony that is damaging to Donald Trump,” predicts Bennett Gershman.

– Credibility –

The jurors will be confronted, among others, with those of Stormy Daniels herself, or Donald Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who has become one of his worst enemies. It was he who had paid the actress — at the request of his boss, he assures — with his own money, and he has already been convicted by the courts in this case.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media after leaving the courtroom during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 19, 2024 in New York © POOL – Mark Peterson

The defense intends to bombard the credibility of this witness, also convicted of lying before Congress.

Donald Trump castigates an empty file and denounces persecution political by using virulent terms against the “corrupt” judge who presides over the proceedings, Juan Merchan, and Alvin Bragg. Prosecutors asked the judge to sanction him for violating the ban on attacking witnesses and jurors, an issue that will be debated Tuesday.

The presence Donald Trump's compulsory attendance at his hearings prevents him from campaigning normally, while his rival Joe Biden tries to make up for his popularity deficit by plowing the ground. On Saturday, the Republican had to cancel a meeting in North Carolina because of bad weather.

The stakes are all the higher as this trial could be the only one to conclude before the presidential election, among the four criminal cases targeting Donald Trump. He is accused in particular before federal justice in Washington of “conspiracy against American institutions” for his allegedly illicit attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election.

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