A jury will weigh the allegation that Trump falsified business records to cover a $130,000 payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels. Here’s what you need to know
Donald Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges. The 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee faces the threat of prison if he is convicted. A jury of seven men and five women will weigh the New York case’s allegation that Trump falsified the financial transaction behind the $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump was charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in spring 2023. Trump has pleaded not guilty.
Here’s what you need to know about the case and what happened today:
Court will resume this morning in Manhattan with David Pecker due back on the stand in the hush-money trial of Donald Trump. Trump’s lawyers will continue to cross-examine Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher and Trump ally.
It will be Pecker’s third day of testimony in the case. Earlier in the week, he testified that the “catch-and-kill” schemes used to buy negative stories about Trump in order to bury them was specifically about helping Trump’s 2016 campaign.
25 April: David Pecker testified about his role in buying a story from the model Karen McDougal about an alleged affair with Trump.
23 April: David Pecker, the National Enquirer publisher, says he was Trump’s “eyes and ears” during the 2016 election campaign.
22 April: in its opening statement, the prosecution said Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election” in his efforts to cover up an alleged affair with the adult film star Stormy Daniels.
19 April: The court has finally chosen all 18 jurors who will decide the fate of Donald Trump in his historic criminal trial. With the jury bench now full, the trial is expected to move toward opening statements next week.
18 April: Twelve jurors have been selected for Donald Trump’s criminal trial after two seated jurors had been removed earlier in the day.
16 April: Judge Juan Merchan admonished Trump for “gesturing and speaking in the direction of the juror” as jury selection continued in the second day of the criminal trial.
15 April: Trump’s hush-money trial began on Monday. He is the country’s first president – present or former – to face a criminal trial.
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