Donald Trump becomes the first US ex-president to go on criminal trial on Monday pushing the nation’s legal and electoral systems to the limit less than seven months before Americans decide whether to return the scandal-plagued Republican to the White House.
Trump is accused of falsifying business records in a scheme to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels so as not to doom his 2016 election.
The so-called hush money affair is only one of the four criminal cases hanging over Trump and arguably the least serious.
However, the real prospect of Trump becoming a convicted felon and potentially facing jail time throws an astonishing wild card into an already unprecedented election in which the right-wing populist is running on dark vows of “vengeance” against Democratic President Joe Biden, who defeated him in 2020.
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Trump is accused of illegally covering up remittances to his longtime attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, who was using the funds to pay Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about the alleged sexual encounter in the final weeks of the 2016 election campaign.
A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023 over the payments made to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, with the ex-president charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records.
He however denied the charges and used the trial, scheduled for up to two months, as a prominent platform to decry what he alleged as “lawfare” and election interference by his political opponents. Trump in addition, claims that he will not get a fair trial in heavily Democratic New York.
Meanwhile, the real estate magnate and longtime reality TV show star is using the limelight as an unlikely campaign boost, touting himself as a victim and using outrage among his supporters as a means to raise funds.
According to him, even if he is convicted, he would be able to appeal and would not be barred from continuing to run or even being elected president on November 5.
