Donald J. Trump’s Manhattan case reaches its important third week. New witnesses are to reveal the information about a hush-money made during his 2016 run for presidential position.
Mr. Trump, who is the first former president to face criminal charges, is accused of lying to hide a payment of $130,000 made to an ad**lt celebrity named Stormy Daniels.
This payment, arranged by Trump’s helper, Michael D. Cohen, was meant to keep Daniels quiet about her encounter with Trump.
The judge, Juan M. Merchan, is expected to decide and speak on Tuesday whether Trump should be punished for breaking the rules of the trial by attacking witnesses, prosecutors, and jurors or the prosecutors would require him to pay a $1,000 fine for each of his 10 statements that broke these rules.
In addition, the prosecutors will likely finish asking questions to Gary Farro, a banker who assisted Mr. Cohen in setting up the account used to pay Ms. Daniels. Then, it will be Mr. Trump’s lawyers’ turn to ask Mr. Farro questions.
After Mr. Farro finishes his proceedings, the prosecutors might look more closely into how the secret payment was arranged.
One potential witness named Keith Davidson, the lawyer who worked with Ms. Daniels and negotiated the payment with Mr. Cohen can be useful to pave this case closure.
Other possible witnesses include Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels, and Hope Hicks, who worked as a spokesperson for Trump during his 2016 campaign and time in the White House.
Although Hicks wasn’t directly involved in the hush-money deal, she could talk about the chaotic events leading up to it, like when the “Access Hollywood” tape came out, where Trump talked about grabbing women.
This tape caused a lot of problems for Trump’s campaign.
Trump, who’s running for president again as the presumptive Republican nominee, says he’s innocent and denies having had relations with Daniels. If found guilty, he could get probation or up to four years in prison.
Here’s all you need to know about the trial:
- Prosecutors have charged Mr. Trump with 34 felony counts related to how he paid back Mr. Cohen for the hush money. They say Mr. Trump’s company falsely labeled the payment as legal expenses and claimed there was no actual retainer agreement.
- Justice Merchan has also expressed his thoughts on the proceedings that, in any trial, the main issue is figuring out what really happened and what can be proven. But in this case, the person on trial has a long history of saying a lot of things, often contradicting himself quickly and without much worry about the impact of his words. This defendant is accused of hiding a scandal by lying about business records, and his habit of saying one thing and then another makes it harder to know what’s true.
- This week’s trial will be short. There will be no court on Monday and another break on Wednesday, as is usual.
- Last week focused on testimony from David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer, who spent four days talking about his relationship with Trump. He discussed a plan called “catch-and-kill,” where he bought rights to stories to keep them from being published.
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