Washington, April 15.- Regardless of the result, the criminal trial that will begin today in New York against Donald Trump is already historic: for the first time in the United States a former president goes to trial on criminal charges.
With Trump the mold was broken. The former president (2017-2021) faces 34 charges for falsifying business records to cover up the payment in 2016 - when he was seeking the presidency - to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
So far three of Trump's four criminal trials (those in Washington, Florida and Georgia) remain with the brake button on, but in a Manhattan court, much to the dismay of the eventual Republican candidate, the process will begin this Monday with the jury selection.
Lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump's former ally and cover man, is the star witness. He was the one who paid Daniels to keep her mouth shut and then Trump reimbursed her.
As Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleges in his 34-count indictment, the former ruler falsified records about those payments to “conceal criminal activity.”
There is, without a doubt, a general expectation. The television media announced special coverage. Publicity, in any way, will be guaranteed.
Before April 15, Trump did the unspeakable - through his legal team - to delay the trial. The ideal for him, as can be presumed, is that the delays go beyond November 5, the date of the general elections.
Last week three attempts by his lawyers to postpone the start of this trial failed and the former occupant of the Oval Office himself had to admit it.
“On Monday I will be forced to sit, gagged, before a highly confrontational and corrupt judge, whose hatred for me knows no bounds,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Wednesday.
His defense will try to rely on credibility: Cohen cannot be trusted if he has pleaded guilty to lying to Congress and the Justice Department refused to offer him a cooperation agreement because prosecutors assumed he had lied to them, he recalls. the local press.
But for Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston, who has covered Trump since the 1980s, the former president could actually be convicted.
Author of “The Big Scam: How Donald Trump Fleeing America and Enriching Himself and His Family” and his most recent article for The New Republic “Today Is the Day 50 Years of Scams Will Finally End,” Johnston He told Democracy Now that the case is extraordinarily strong because his fixer Cohen went to prison for these same events.
The legal mess is almost unspeakable. Civil liability for defamation and sexual misconduct, years of fraud with his real estate empire, added to attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 elections and the retention of classified documents after leaving office make a compilation for a textbook.
With much of all these entanglements underway and a total of 88 charges between state and federal, Johnston was categorical: “Donald Trump has committed serious criminal acts throughout his entire life and, finally, he is being held accountable.” (Text and photo: PL)
