What does the case of porn actress Stormy Daniels against Trump consist of: the charges she faces
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Donald Trump appeared this Monday in a New York court for a trial that is unprecedented in the history of the United States: He is the first former president of the country to face criminal proceedings. The former president, 77, is being tried for a alleged payment he made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential elections so that she would not reveal the details of an alleged sexual encounter between the two. Prosecutors allege that The payment was an attempt to “illegally influence” the elections in which Trump ended up defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton.
The ex-president He is accused of 34 counts that a jury of 12 members must evaluate in the coming weeks. This Monday’s hearing was called for the process of election of jury members.
Trump has pleaded not guilty, arguing that the accusations he faces are politically motivated. “All the jurists have said that this case is nonsense, it should never have been filed, there is no case“He told the press this Monday before entering the court. “This is an attack on America and that is why I am very proud to be here,” he added.
The politician and businessman has had to face a series of accusations in court in recent months, due to civil lawsuits. However, the criminal trial that began this Monday will be very different.
The accusation
Stormy Danielswhose real name is Stephanie Clifford claims that she had sexual relations with Trump in 2006 – something he denies – and that, in exchange for keeping that encounter private, she received a payment, before the 2016 presidential elections.
The trial focuses on the alleged payment that Trump made to his former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. He assures that with that money ordered him to pay Daniels US$130,000.
For New York prosecutors, this was an attempt to “illegally influence” the 2016 elections. Although payments of money to keep a matter private are not illegal in the US, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office alleges Trump committed a crime by improperly recording money he paid Cohen under the concept of “legal expenses”.
How the case started
Daniels, now 45 years old, spoke for the first time in 2011 with the magazine In Touch Weekly of the alleged relationship she had with Trump five years earlier. She stated that He met Trump at a golf tournament in July 2006. and that they had sexual relations on one occasion in a hotel in the Lake Tahoe area, a tourist area of California.
“He didn’t seem worried about it. He was a little arrogant,” he said in response to the interviewer’s question about whether Trump had told him not to say anything about the night they supposedly spent together.
If what happened is true, would have happened four months after Barron Trump’s birththe son that the former president has with his wife Melania.
Reports of threats
At that time, the magazine did not publish the interview after threats of legal action made by Trump’s lawyer, according to the program at the time. 60 Minutes on CBS.
in Touch Weekly finally brought Daniels’ statements to light in 2018, weeks before the former porn actress told 60 Minutes who had been threatened after the 2011 interview.
Daniels assured that a man approached her and her daughter in a parking lot in Las Vegas and told him to “leave Trump alone.” “She is a beautiful girl. It would be a shame if something happened to her mother,” the man reportedly told her.
Daniels later acknowledged that accepted US$130,000 as a “secret payment” from Cohen in exchange for his silence a month before the 2016 presidential elections. She said she did it because she was worried about her family’s safety.
He then told the program 60 minutes that was risking a US$1 million fine for breaking the agreement when speaking on television about what happened, but stated: “It is very important for me to be able to defend myself.”
The first trial of a former president
Trump, who is the virtual Republican candidate for this year’s November elections, He is the first former president to face criminal charges. “It is unprecedented,” says Alex Keyssar, professor of History and Public Policy at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. “There has been nothing even remotely comparable.”
The trial is expected to last six to eight weeks., which may be a distraction for Trump’s election campaign. Both are expected to testify in the Manhattan court. Daniels as Cohen.
The judge in the case is Juan Merchan, a judge of Colombian origin who last year took charge of a tax fraud trial against the Trump Organization. The former US president has said that the judge “hates him” and should withdraw from the case, something that Merchan rejected.
Forced to attend
Unlike the civil trials he has dealt with in recent months, in which his presence was not strictly mandatory, in this case he will have to attend the hearings, legal experts explained to the BBC.
Failure to do so may result in a warrant against him. However, the court has a certain discretion to allow absences of the accused.
But Failure to attend hearings without justification could cost Trump dearly in a jury trial, Neama Rahmani saidformer federal prosecutor and president of the West Coast Trial Lawyers association.
Cohen is expected to be the prosecution’s star witness. He is likely to face intense interrogation about his troubled past.
The former president’s defense could argue that the accusations are “unfounded” and have a “political motivation”. That’s what Trump has said about the multiple lawsuits he faces, if he provides evidence to support these claims.
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