Follow the live broadcast President Trump's hush money trial.
The start of Donald J. Trump's criminal trial on Monday plunges the 2024 presidential race into uncharted territory, with Trump once again in a position never seen since leaving the White House more than three years ago. It will attract public attention.
There will be no cameras in Manhattan courtrooms. But avoid the drama surrounding Trump as he goes on trial in a case that threatens Republican candidates, centering on obscene hush money payments made to porn stars in the run-up to the 2016 election. I may not be able to do it. He faces possible prison time on 34 felonies.
The trial begins with perhaps the most scrutinized jury selection since the O.J. Simpson trial 30 years ago, and Mr. Trump will be held in New York City about four days a week for about eight weeks, possibly longer. Become.
That's about a quarter of the way through the November election.
“This is unlike any other presidential campaign in the history of this country,” said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster who has covered past presidential elections. “It would put normal presidential campaigning on a kind of sabbatical.”
As the center of his campaign shifts from battleground states to lower Manhattan courtrooms, Trump wants as many media outlets as possible to cover his appearance in court and his many supporters defending him on television. I told my advisors. And he has maintained his intentions over previous criminal arraignments, including going straight from a Miami courthouse to a popular Cuban restaurant and holding a press conference at his home at 40 Wall Street during proceedings in New York. It has created a circus-like atmosphere. Advisors say he is likely to repeat the same approach.
“All hell will break loose on Monday!” Trump asked supporters for “peaceful patriotic support” in a fundraising email on Friday.
He is expected to hold events in some politically friendly boroughs around New York City and outside Manhattan on days he is not in court and possibly on the evenings of days he is in court. has been done. On Wednesday, when the trial is scheduled to take a weekly break, day trips to battlegrounds for rallies are possible, and advisers note that Trump has a private plane.
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday, and as Trump watches from the courtroom, prospective jurors will be asked to share their opinions of Trump, what podcasts they listen to, and which news outlets they use. A questionnaire survey will be conducted to determine the height of the body.
The case will also be a test of how news organizations will handle the potentially rapid developments surrounding Mr. Trump in the coming days. In a recent MSNBC segment, media-hungry attorney Michael Avenatti, who once represented the porn star in this case, said: I called live from prison., where he is serving time on unrelated charges. Among the questions for those who produce television shows: If Mr. Trump chooses to narrate the day's developments at a press conference, will the networks broadcast it live?
President Biden and his campaign see the incident and three other charges as potentially furthering Trump's claims that they are part of a broader “election interference” scheme, and have effectively moved the trial. He has taken a vow of silence (no evidence). The White House played some role in his prosecution in New York and elsewhere). But Biden's advisers hope the trial will amplify his claims that the former president is running primarily to help himself, including to keep him out of prison. He said there was.
Both the Biden and Trump campaigns declined to comment.
A sharp focus on Trump and one of his criminal charges will benefit the Biden team as it rushes to make its 2024 campaign as focused on its predecessor as it is on the president. there is a possibility.
“This is President Trump's basic messaging mission right now,” said Pat Dennis, chairman of American Bridge 21st Century, a Democratic super PAC that will be closely following the trial. “He has benefited from being out of the spotlight. We need to remind people of who this man was and why voters were tired of him.”
Republican pollster Whit Ayers said the closest thing to this would be the televised Congressional hearings on January 6, 2022 that garnered national attention, but Republicans proudly didn't listen and Democrats said he was hooked.
A New York Times/Siena College poll conducted just before the trial found that 58% of voters and 54% of independents considered the charges very or somewhat serious. But nearly one in five voters said they were unsure whether he should be convicted. Some polls suggest a small but important group of voters could be swayed by a conviction.
Even some of Mr. Trump's critics within the Republican Party and Democratic Party have expressed concern that the Manhattan case could be prioritized and become the only trial before the election. Part of this concern is because Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, who brought the charges, is an elected Democrat, unlike Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith. But it's also because the charges themselves are not as far-reaching and fundamental as the accusation that Trump tried to prevent a peaceful transfer of power.
Of course, Trump himself could turn the proceedings into a zoo. He will be forced to sit and listen to former adult film star Stormy Daniels, who claims to have had a sexual relationship with him. Michael Cohen, his former fixer. And aides who worked closely with him have testified about the incident and the payments made as a result.
Trump has already shown little patience as a courtroom attendee, storming out of the courtroom during closing arguments in the E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse and defamation case and receiving a reprimand from the judge. The jury ultimately ordered Trump to pay Carroll more than $83 million for accusing her of rape and defaming him.
“The X-factor — let's call it known and unknown — will drive him insane,” Democratic pollster Anna Greenberg said.
Trump's lawyers have repeatedly warned him that he must try to avoid erratic behavior in front of juries and that some judges would put him in jail if he did. I've done it.
A series of conservative activists with close ties to Mr. Trump and those in his circle are planning trips to New York for daily protests and media appearances. The Young Republicans of New York plans to hold a pro-Trump rally in Collect Pond Park near the courthouse, the group's executive director, Bish Bula, said in an interview. He said he was coordinating logistics.
Other Trump supporters, including right-wing activist Laura Loomer, also traveled to New York to broadcast messages of support for Trump and the judge overseeing the case, Judge Juan M. Marchand, who is serving as an adviser to the Democratic Party. plans to attack the daughter of Mr. Trump's former chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon's podcast “War Room'' has a huge following among hardline activists, and correspondents including Mr. Loomer will be on the scene.
Loomer does not work for Trump, but she has flown with him and met him at his private club. He frequently encourages her attacks on her perceived enemies, including her online posts about Judge Marchand's daughter.
“We need to raise awareness about the Banana Republic witch hunt against President Trump,” Loomer said in an interview. “I'll bring a bullhorn. I'll bring a cameraman. I have Trump equipment, and I have a staff writer.”
Mike Davis, a lawyer and Trump ally who will appear with Loomer on Bannon's show, said, “When judges and prosecutors step into the political arena, they should expect a political punch.'' Told.
Even before the trial, Trump was trying to impose sanctions on Judge Marchand. In early April, a judge expanded the gag order to prevent the former president from attacking witnesses, prosecutors, jurors and court staff, as well as judges and Mr. Bragg's relatives. Over the weekend, Trump attacked Cohen on social media.
Trump has criticized the judge's gag order as unconstitutional. Trump compared himself to an anti-apartheid activist on his social media site, writing, “If this partisan hacker wants to 'condemn' me by speaking openly and plainly the truth, I'm happy to do so.” He will become a modern-day Nelson Mandela.” South African activist.
In the Republican primaries, Trump repeatedly showed he could turn his legal crisis into political advantage. His biggest fundraising day was the day his mug shot was taken when he was booked in Atlanta. His donations similarly spiked when he was first indicted in New York.
It's less clear how his claims of victimhood will play out in the general election, with polls showing some swing voters will decline to vote for Trump if he is convicted.
Biden has not publicly weighed in on the details of the incident. But his advisers have set a schedule for him to be in battleground states, sharpening the contrast with Trump, who is locked up in court. Biden will hold five events over three days in Pennsylvania this week as jury selection begins.
