Presidential Affairs: Donald Trump and Stormy Daniels
As I began to write this entry, the jury was deliberating in a Manhattan courthouse in a case cited as "The People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump." The former president faced 34 felony charges of falsifying business records with the intent to commit or conceal another crime. At the center of things are payments made to pornographic film actress Stormy Daniels intended to ensure her silence about an alleged sexual encounter between the two. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has accused Trump of falsifying these business records with the intent to violate federal campaign finance limits, unlawfully influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and commit tax fraud. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if Trump is convicted on five or more counts. It is the first indictment of a former U.S. president. It was approved by a Manhattan grand jury on March 30, 2023. On April 3, the former President surrendered to the Manhattan DA's office and was arraigned the next day. Trump pleaded not guilty and the trial began on April 15, 2024.
Before and during the trial, defense lawyers have made requests for the case to be delayed or dismissed, for the judge to recuse himself, and for a mistrial. All these motions have been unsuccessful. The prosecution argued that Trump's 2016 campaign sought to benefit from the payment of hush money to Daniels through Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who was allegedly reimbursed via a false retainer agreement.
Trump met Stormy Daniels, an American pornographic film actress, at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in July of 1986. At the time, Trump was the host of the reality TV series The Apprentice. According to Daniels, Trump invited her to his penthouse at Harrah's Lake Tahoe where she says that the two had sex and talked about making her a guest on The Apprentice. Twenty-five years later, in 2011, Daniels considered selling the story to the celebrity magazine Life & Style for US$15,000. This occurred as Trump began exploring a potential presidential bid. His lawyer, Michael Cohen, threatened to sue Life & Style when it asked the Trump Organization for comment. The story had been leaked by Daniels' agent, Gina Rodriguez, to the gossip blog The Dirty in October, but the post was taken down following complaints by Trump's lawyers.
Five years later, as Trump's 2016 presidential campaign began, Rodriguez approached multiple publications-including the National Enquirer-and attempted to sell the story. In the fall of 2016, a video tape was released containing a conversation between Trump and Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. In order to keep Daniels' story off the radar at the time, Dylan Howard, the editor-in-chief of the tabloid the National Enquirer, negotiated a $130,000 non-disclosure agreement between Daniels and Michael Cohen. Cohen repeatedly delayed her payment and Keith Davidson, Daniels' lawyer, canceled the deal in October 2016. Cohen drew the money from his home equity line of credit and sent it through a shell company incorporated in Delaware. Trump initially denied knowing about the check made out to Daniels. In April 2018, aboard Air Force One, he told a reporter he did not know where Cohen got the money, but Rudy Giuliani, another attorney for Trump, refuted these claims in a Fox News interview. He said that Trump was aware of the payments.
Trump wrote several checks totaling $420,000 to Cohen. The checks reimbursed him for the non-disclosure agreement and covered other costs. The $180,000 paid to Cohen was doubled to offset taxes, and $60,000 was added. These payments were made throughout 2017, during Trump's first year of his presidency. The payments made to Cohen were declared as a legal expense. Nine monthly checks from Trump to Cohen, dating April to December 2017, were presented in evidence at the trial.
In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported on Cohen's payment to Daniels. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts relating to the payment-as well as another payment made to Karen McDougal-in August. In his admission of guilt, Cohen stated that he acted "at the direction of a candidate for federal office", implicating Trump. In December 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison.
Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney during 2010-2021, initiated the investigation of Trump. He received a favorable decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Vance which allowed a subpoena of Trump's accounting firm. Following Cohen's August 2018 admission of guilt, Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Cyrus Vance Jr. opened an investigation against the Trump Organization and two of its executives. The office paused its inquiry when the office of the federal U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York began a separate investigation into the payments, but the federal inquiry concluded without charges in July 2019. The Manhattan district attorney's office then issued a subpoena for the Trump Organization in August, seeking documents relating to the payments. Additionally, the office subpoenaed accounting firm Mazars USA, demanding eight years of Trump's corporate tax returns.
Alvin Bragg, who succeeded Vance as Manhattan District Attorney at the beginning of 2022, continued the investigation and secured an indictment and trial of Trump. In early 2021, Mark Pomerantz, a Manhattan prosecutor, sought to revive the case under the theory that if Daniel had extorted Trump, the money would be criminal proceeds, and efforts to conceal its source would constitute money laundering. Pomerantz later concluded that the money laundering statute would not apply. Pomerantz subsequently resigned in February 2022. In January 2023, the Manhattan district attorney's office impaneled a grand jury, and began presenting evidence of Trump's role in the Stormy Daniels payment. Cohen met with the DA's office and the grand jury. Cohen had met with the DA's office at least 18 times. He had given his cellphones to the DA's prosecutors, who wanted evidence of communications. Several other witnesses met with the DA's office or the grand jury in March 2023, including two Trump organization employees, two former National Enquirer executives who helped broker the hush-money deal, a lawyer for Daniels and Daniels herself.
By March 9, 2023, prosecutors had offered Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury the following week, indicating that they were likely preparing to indict him. On March 10, 2023, Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina asked New York City's Department of Investigation to review the criminal probe. On March 13, Tacopina announced that Trump would not testify. On March 18, 2023, Trump claimed on his social-media platform, Truth Social, that he was to be arrested on March 21 and that the proceedings were disinformation backed by President Joe Biden. He called for protests in anticipation of a possible indictment.
The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on March 30, 2023. The indictment was filed with the New York Supreme Court the same day. The charges were under seal until published when Trump was arraigned in the Manhattan Criminal Court. The indictment charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, in violation of New York Penal Law §175.10. Each count is related to a specific business document, each having a date ranging from February 14 through December 5, 2017. They are summarized as follows:
11 counts for invoices from Michael Cohen
9 for general ledger entries for Donald J. Trump
9 for checks from Donald J. Trump
3 for general ledger entries for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust
2 for checks from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust
Falsifying business records in the first degree is a felony under New York state law that requires that the "intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof". The charges do not include or even identify the additional crimes.
Conviction would not legally prohibit Trump from continuing his campaign in the 2024 presidential election, nor would he be forbidden from assuming presidency should he win, even if he was in prison. Trump stated in an April 2023 Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson that he would not drop his candidacy if convicted.
Trump was arraigned on April 4, 2023. Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan was assigned to preside over the case. Merchan denied a motion filed by media organizations to allow a television broadcast of the arraignment or to allow electronic devices to be used in the courtroom, but allowed five press pool still photographers. Courtroom sketch artists also documented the proceedings. Upon entering the courthouse, Donald Trunp was put in police custody and placed under arrest. He was booked and fingerprinted, but he was not handcuffed, nor was a mug shot taken. Trump entered the courtroom an hour later, pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges. The indictment was unsealed and publicly released shortly thereafter. At the arraignment, Merchan cautioned Trump not to use social media to incite violence.
Trump’s lawyers maintained that he was unaware of any allegedly unlawful schemes. They argue that President Trump lacked the requisite intent to commit the conduct charged in the Indictment because of his awareness that various lawyers were involved in the underlying conduct giving rise to the charges.
On April 27, Trump's team had asked for the charges to be explained in full. On May 16, the DA's office argued that it did not need to elaborate further on the basis that Trump already "has more than sufficient information to prepare his defense." On February 15, 2024, the court denied the motions to dismiss. The court did partially grant Trump's request seeking clarification of the charges. Trump is not only accused of falsifying business records, but doing so with the intention to commit or conceal some other crime. The court ruled that it would be unfair to expect Trump to prepare a defense to a newly raised theory mid-trial, and so the court limited the prosecution to just three theories of "other crimes" that had already been identified during pre-trial procedure.
On May 4, Merchan heard arguments about the DA office's request to restrict information it turns over to Trump's lawyers from being shared with Trump himself, citing his past social-media posts attacking Bragg and witnesses. The defense has argued that the government should be equally restrained from discussing information publicly and that Trump should be allowed to defend himself politically. On May 8, Merchan made an order, barring evidence from being shared on social media. The judge instructed Trump and his lawyers on their conduct on May 23, informing them that violations could incur a "wide range of sanctions" including being held in contempt of court.
On May 31, 2023, Trump's lawyers unsuccessfully filed a motion asking Judge Merchan to disqualify himself because, according to the defense, the judge and his family have supported the Democratic Party, including three $10-15 donations of his to Democratic causes and his daughter's role as a partner and COO of a Democratic consulting firm that provided services to Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. On June 20, the DA's office argued against the recusal request, citing Trump's alleged "prolific history of baselessly accusing state and federal judges around the country of bias." The court denied the motion on August 11, 2023. On April 1, 2024, the defense asked Merchan for permission to file a motion repeating their prior request that he recuse himself for what the defense said was a conflict of interest due to his daughter's Democratic involvement. On April 2; prosecutors pointed out that the court and an ethics panel had already found that the political activities of a relative are not grounds for questioning a judge's impartiality.
On April 5, Trump's campaign publicized their motion for Merchan to recuse himself. On April 6, Trump posted online that if arrested for violating the gag order, he would consider it a "great honor" to "become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela." On April 8, Trump's team asked an appeals court to delay the trial and pause the gag order while they appeal the latter; this was denied the following day. On April 10, an appeals judge denied another defense delay request. On April 15, Merchan denied the recusal motion. On April 30, an appellate court denied requests for both a recusal and a stay of proceedings.
On May 4, 2023, Trump's lawyers asked for the case to be moved to a federal court. In a hearing on July, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that the case should remain in state court. Trump appealed the decision on July 28,[192] but withdrew this on November 14.
On March 11, 2024, Trump lawyers requested a delay of trial until after the federal election obstruction case on the basis that it would bolster his argument of presidential immunity, as some evidence and allegedly some acts overlapped with his time in office. He also asked to delay trial until after the Supreme Court decides whether he is generally immune from prosecution in the federal charges on election obstruction. Granting the motion would have delayed trial until mid-summer or later, as the Supreme Court had already scheduled those arguments for April 25 and may not rule until the end of the court's term in early July. Merchan denied the motion on April 3. On March 18, Trump's team requested an additional delay on the basis that pretrial publicity and apparent anti-Trump bias in Manhattan would prohibit a fair jury from being selected in April. On April 8, Trump's team asked the appeals court for a delay to allow an attempt to move the trial to a different county, which was denied the same day.
In March 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office provided prosecutors with approximately 170,000 pages of documents, largely related to the 2017 federal probe of Cohen's payment to Daniels (and mostly reflecting evidence already turned over to Trump's lawyers in June 2023).Trump's lawyers sought a delay in the trial on the basis of the newly produced records; the DA's office said in court that only 300 of the documents were relevant to Trump's defense. On March 15, 2024, the judge delayed the start of trial until mid-April. On March 25, 2024, the judge set a trial date of April 15, and denied a motion by Trump's team to further delay the trial. On May 23, 2024, Merchan denied Trump's request to sanction prosecutors regarding the document release, ruling that the defense was provided sufficient time to respond.
Further requests to postpone the trial were denied although Merchan allowed Trump to attend his son Barron's high-school graduation on May 17. On May 17, Donald and Melania Trump attended their son's graduation from Oxbridge Academy at West Palm Beach, followed by a visit to Lincoln Reagan Dinner at the 2024 annual Minnesota Republican convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
On February 26, 2024, the Manhattan DA asked for a gag order on Trump, noting that Trump has been fined $15,000 for two violations of a gag order in the civil fraud trial by disparaging the judge's law clerk on social media, and reporting that police had logged 89 threats to Bragg, his family, or staff in 2023. On March 7, Merchan ruled that the jury would be anonymous except to some involved in the trial, including Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors. On March 26, Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, restricting what he could say publicly about people involved in the case. Additionally, the judge warned the defense, under the threat of contempt, against dilatory tactics such as the late filing of pretrial motions or last-minute demands, pointing out that Trump had "stated publicly that the defense goal is to delay these proceedings. On March 26, Trump made online posts attacking the judge, the gag order, and Merchan's daughter, the latter over an anti-Trump social-media post created by someone impersonating her on social media. The same day, Merchan imposed a gag order forbidding Trump to publicly comment on court staff, prosecutors, prospective jurors, or their families, or to cause others to make such statements, in a way that interferes with the case. The court also ordered Trump not to comment on prospective trial witnesses concerning their potential participation in the criminal case.
On March 27 and 28, Trump again attacked Merchan's daughter on social media. On April 1, Merchan expanded the gag order to protect his and Bragg's family members, saying attacks on them "serve no legitimate purpose". He wrote that Trump's continued attacks posted a "very real" threat to the integrity of proceedings and could cause those involved in the case to fear for themselves and their families, which would "undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself". On April 11, Trump disparaged expected witnesses Cohen and Daniels on social media, referring to them as dishonest "sleaze bags". On May 6, Merchan found Trump in contempt of court for the tenth time, but stated that he did not wish to jail Trump due to the fact that Trump was a former president. On May 14, a New York appeals court denied Trump's request to overturn the gag order.
The following witnesses testified for the prosecution:
April 22-25 David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer
April 26: Rhona Graf, Donald Trump executive assistant; Gary Farro, First Republic banker
April 30: Robert Browning, C-SPAN Executive Director for Archives; Phillip Thompson, Regional Director of Esquire Deposition Solutions;
Keith Davidson, Former attorney for Stormy Daniels
May 2: Douglas Daus, computer forensics specialist in the Manhattan DA's office
May 3: Hope Hicks, Former White House Communications Director
May 6: Jeffrey McConney, Former Trump Organization comptroller; Deborah Tarasoff, Trump Organization accounting employee
May 7: Sally Franklin, Penguin Books executive; Stormy Daniels
May 9: Rebecca Manochio, Trump Organization bookkeeper; Tracey Menzies, Senior vice president at Harper Collins; Madeleine Westerhout, former Director of Oval Office Operations
May 10: Jennie Tomalin, Verizon senior analyst; Daniel Dixon, AT&T compliance analyst; Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office; Georgia Longstreet; Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office
May 13-16, 20: Michael Cohen
These defense witnesses testified:
May 20: Daniel Sitko, Paralegal for defense attorney; Robert Costello, Associate of Michael Cohen
Trump was required to attend every day of trial barring a court-approved absence.
On May 28, the defense gave a three-hour closing argument. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche claimed Trump had nothing to do with checks which were written by Trump's sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Blanche questioned why prosecutors did not call Donald Jr. and Eric as witnesses despite their signing payment checks to Cohen. Blanche also showed an email revealing that McConnery sought approval from both Donald Jr. and Eric. Blanche alleged that it was Cohen's decision to make the hush-money payment and attacked Cohen's credibility. Blanche also sought to discredit Daniels' ambitions, noting (among other things) text messages between her manager and publicist Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard which showed that Howard believed Pecker would pay for her story shortly after the Access Hollywood tape was released. Merchan admonished Blanche for telling the jury: "You cannot send someone to prison, you cannot convict somebody, based upon the words of Michael Cohen." Merchan said this type of comment is "highly inappropriate" and "not allowed" because the jury is not supposed to consider the sentence.
The same day, prosecution gave a four-hour and 41 minute closing argument. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass described Pecker's testimony as "utterly damning". He noted that some key parts of Daniels' story were proven true and added that the defense appeared to acknowledge that Trump knew about the Daniels payment. Steinglass argued that Cohen was Trump's "fixer" and that his knowledge was "limited to what actually happened". It was noted that Cohen did not work for the Trump Organization's legal department and answered directly to Trump. Steinglass went over phone conversations between Trump and Cohen regarding the hush-money payment and showed a December 2017 check to Cohen signed via Sharpie by Donald Trump, arguing that the latter must have known the purpose of such checks, as his "entire business philosophy was and is to be involved in everything". Steinglass further stated that the payment was made to "hoodwink the American voter".
On May 29, the jury began deliberations. A few hours in, they asked to hear a readback of about 30 minutes of testimony by Pecker and Cohen. This involved an August 2015 meeting between these two, Trump, and Hicks, in which Pecker pledged to be Trump's "eyes and ears" regarding negative stories about him. The jury wanted to hear Pecker's testimony regarding an alleged phone call from Trump in which the two discussed a rumor that McDougal had gone to another outlet to publish her story.
On May 30, Judge Merchan had planned to conclude the jury deliberations for the day at 4:30 p.m. But at 4:20 p.m. he received a note from the jurors which read, “We the jury have reached a verdict,” it said, and asked for an extra 30 minutes to fill out the verdict form. Just before 5 p.m., the judge returned to the bench. He instructed court officers to bring the jury into the courtroom. When the 12 jurors and 6 alternate jurors entered the courtoom, most looked straight ahead as they walked past Trump. A court clerk asked: “How say you to the first count of the indictment, charging Donald J. Trump with falsifying business records in the first degree?” a court staffer asked. “Guilty,” the foreperson, whose name has not been publicly released, said in a steady voice. The same answer, “guilty,” came again and again and Trump was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying records at his company as part of a broad scheme to cover up payments made to a porn actor during the 2016 election.
Merchan thanked the jury for its work, stating, “You were engaged in a very stressful and difficult task,” he said, adding that the weeks of the trial were “a long time to be away from your jobs, your families, all of your responsibilities.” The jury was then excused. Trump stood as jurors filtered out of the courtroom, appearing to be looking at them one by one as they passed in front of him.
Before and during the trial, defense lawyers have made requests for the case to be delayed or dismissed, for the judge to recuse himself, and for a mistrial. All these motions have been unsuccessful. The prosecution argued that Trump's 2016 campaign sought to benefit from the payment of hush money to Daniels through Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen, who was allegedly reimbursed via a false retainer agreement.
Trump met Stormy Daniels, an American pornographic film actress, at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada in July of 1986. At the time, Trump was the host of the reality TV series The Apprentice. According to Daniels, Trump invited her to his penthouse at Harrah's Lake Tahoe where she says that the two had sex and talked about making her a guest on The Apprentice. Twenty-five years later, in 2011, Daniels considered selling the story to the celebrity magazine Life & Style for US$15,000. This occurred as Trump began exploring a potential presidential bid. His lawyer, Michael Cohen, threatened to sue Life & Style when it asked the Trump Organization for comment. The story had been leaked by Daniels' agent, Gina Rodriguez, to the gossip blog The Dirty in October, but the post was taken down following complaints by Trump's lawyers.
Five years later, as Trump's 2016 presidential campaign began, Rodriguez approached multiple publications-including the National Enquirer-and attempted to sell the story. In the fall of 2016, a video tape was released containing a conversation between Trump and Access Hollywood host Billy Bush. In order to keep Daniels' story off the radar at the time, Dylan Howard, the editor-in-chief of the tabloid the National Enquirer, negotiated a $130,000 non-disclosure agreement between Daniels and Michael Cohen. Cohen repeatedly delayed her payment and Keith Davidson, Daniels' lawyer, canceled the deal in October 2016. Cohen drew the money from his home equity line of credit and sent it through a shell company incorporated in Delaware. Trump initially denied knowing about the check made out to Daniels. In April 2018, aboard Air Force One, he told a reporter he did not know where Cohen got the money, but Rudy Giuliani, another attorney for Trump, refuted these claims in a Fox News interview. He said that Trump was aware of the payments.
Trump wrote several checks totaling $420,000 to Cohen. The checks reimbursed him for the non-disclosure agreement and covered other costs. The $180,000 paid to Cohen was doubled to offset taxes, and $60,000 was added. These payments were made throughout 2017, during Trump's first year of his presidency. The payments made to Cohen were declared as a legal expense. Nine monthly checks from Trump to Cohen, dating April to December 2017, were presented in evidence at the trial.
In January 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported on Cohen's payment to Daniels. Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal counts relating to the payment-as well as another payment made to Karen McDougal-in August. In his admission of guilt, Cohen stated that he acted "at the direction of a candidate for federal office", implicating Trump. In December 2018, Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison.
Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan District Attorney during 2010-2021, initiated the investigation of Trump. He received a favorable decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Trump v. Vance which allowed a subpoena of Trump's accounting firm. Following Cohen's August 2018 admission of guilt, Manhattan District Attorney (DA) Cyrus Vance Jr. opened an investigation against the Trump Organization and two of its executives. The office paused its inquiry when the office of the federal U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York began a separate investigation into the payments, but the federal inquiry concluded without charges in July 2019. The Manhattan district attorney's office then issued a subpoena for the Trump Organization in August, seeking documents relating to the payments. Additionally, the office subpoenaed accounting firm Mazars USA, demanding eight years of Trump's corporate tax returns.
Alvin Bragg, who succeeded Vance as Manhattan District Attorney at the beginning of 2022, continued the investigation and secured an indictment and trial of Trump. In early 2021, Mark Pomerantz, a Manhattan prosecutor, sought to revive the case under the theory that if Daniel had extorted Trump, the money would be criminal proceeds, and efforts to conceal its source would constitute money laundering. Pomerantz later concluded that the money laundering statute would not apply. Pomerantz subsequently resigned in February 2022. In January 2023, the Manhattan district attorney's office impaneled a grand jury, and began presenting evidence of Trump's role in the Stormy Daniels payment. Cohen met with the DA's office and the grand jury. Cohen had met with the DA's office at least 18 times. He had given his cellphones to the DA's prosecutors, who wanted evidence of communications. Several other witnesses met with the DA's office or the grand jury in March 2023, including two Trump organization employees, two former National Enquirer executives who helped broker the hush-money deal, a lawyer for Daniels and Daniels herself.
By March 9, 2023, prosecutors had offered Trump a chance to testify before the grand jury the following week, indicating that they were likely preparing to indict him. On March 10, 2023, Trump's lawyer Joe Tacopina asked New York City's Department of Investigation to review the criminal probe. On March 13, Tacopina announced that Trump would not testify. On March 18, 2023, Trump claimed on his social-media platform, Truth Social, that he was to be arrested on March 21 and that the proceedings were disinformation backed by President Joe Biden. He called for protests in anticipation of a possible indictment.
The Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on March 30, 2023. The indictment was filed with the New York Supreme Court the same day. The charges were under seal until published when Trump was arraigned in the Manhattan Criminal Court. The indictment charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, in violation of New York Penal Law §175.10. Each count is related to a specific business document, each having a date ranging from February 14 through December 5, 2017. They are summarized as follows:
11 counts for invoices from Michael Cohen
9 for general ledger entries for Donald J. Trump
9 for checks from Donald J. Trump
3 for general ledger entries for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust
2 for checks from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust
Falsifying business records in the first degree is a felony under New York state law that requires that the "intent to defraud includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission thereof". The charges do not include or even identify the additional crimes.
Conviction would not legally prohibit Trump from continuing his campaign in the 2024 presidential election, nor would he be forbidden from assuming presidency should he win, even if he was in prison. Trump stated in an April 2023 Fox News interview with Tucker Carlson that he would not drop his candidacy if convicted.
Trump was arraigned on April 4, 2023. Acting New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan was assigned to preside over the case. Merchan denied a motion filed by media organizations to allow a television broadcast of the arraignment or to allow electronic devices to be used in the courtroom, but allowed five press pool still photographers. Courtroom sketch artists also documented the proceedings. Upon entering the courthouse, Donald Trunp was put in police custody and placed under arrest. He was booked and fingerprinted, but he was not handcuffed, nor was a mug shot taken. Trump entered the courtroom an hour later, pleading not guilty to 34 felony charges. The indictment was unsealed and publicly released shortly thereafter. At the arraignment, Merchan cautioned Trump not to use social media to incite violence.
Trump’s lawyers maintained that he was unaware of any allegedly unlawful schemes. They argue that President Trump lacked the requisite intent to commit the conduct charged in the Indictment because of his awareness that various lawyers were involved in the underlying conduct giving rise to the charges.
On April 27, Trump's team had asked for the charges to be explained in full. On May 16, the DA's office argued that it did not need to elaborate further on the basis that Trump already "has more than sufficient information to prepare his defense." On February 15, 2024, the court denied the motions to dismiss. The court did partially grant Trump's request seeking clarification of the charges. Trump is not only accused of falsifying business records, but doing so with the intention to commit or conceal some other crime. The court ruled that it would be unfair to expect Trump to prepare a defense to a newly raised theory mid-trial, and so the court limited the prosecution to just three theories of "other crimes" that had already been identified during pre-trial procedure.
On May 4, Merchan heard arguments about the DA office's request to restrict information it turns over to Trump's lawyers from being shared with Trump himself, citing his past social-media posts attacking Bragg and witnesses. The defense has argued that the government should be equally restrained from discussing information publicly and that Trump should be allowed to defend himself politically. On May 8, Merchan made an order, barring evidence from being shared on social media. The judge instructed Trump and his lawyers on their conduct on May 23, informing them that violations could incur a "wide range of sanctions" including being held in contempt of court.
On May 31, 2023, Trump's lawyers unsuccessfully filed a motion asking Judge Merchan to disqualify himself because, according to the defense, the judge and his family have supported the Democratic Party, including three $10-15 donations of his to Democratic causes and his daughter's role as a partner and COO of a Democratic consulting firm that provided services to Biden's 2020 presidential campaign. On June 20, the DA's office argued against the recusal request, citing Trump's alleged "prolific history of baselessly accusing state and federal judges around the country of bias." The court denied the motion on August 11, 2023. On April 1, 2024, the defense asked Merchan for permission to file a motion repeating their prior request that he recuse himself for what the defense said was a conflict of interest due to his daughter's Democratic involvement. On April 2; prosecutors pointed out that the court and an ethics panel had already found that the political activities of a relative are not grounds for questioning a judge's impartiality.
On April 5, Trump's campaign publicized their motion for Merchan to recuse himself. On April 6, Trump posted online that if arrested for violating the gag order, he would consider it a "great honor" to "become a Modern Day Nelson Mandela." On April 8, Trump's team asked an appeals court to delay the trial and pause the gag order while they appeal the latter; this was denied the following day. On April 10, an appeals judge denied another defense delay request. On April 15, Merchan denied the recusal motion. On April 30, an appellate court denied requests for both a recusal and a stay of proceedings.
On May 4, 2023, Trump's lawyers asked for the case to be moved to a federal court. In a hearing on July, District Judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that the case should remain in state court. Trump appealed the decision on July 28,[192] but withdrew this on November 14.
On March 11, 2024, Trump lawyers requested a delay of trial until after the federal election obstruction case on the basis that it would bolster his argument of presidential immunity, as some evidence and allegedly some acts overlapped with his time in office. He also asked to delay trial until after the Supreme Court decides whether he is generally immune from prosecution in the federal charges on election obstruction. Granting the motion would have delayed trial until mid-summer or later, as the Supreme Court had already scheduled those arguments for April 25 and may not rule until the end of the court's term in early July. Merchan denied the motion on April 3. On March 18, Trump's team requested an additional delay on the basis that pretrial publicity and apparent anti-Trump bias in Manhattan would prohibit a fair jury from being selected in April. On April 8, Trump's team asked the appeals court for a delay to allow an attempt to move the trial to a different county, which was denied the same day.
In March 2024, the U.S. Attorney's Office provided prosecutors with approximately 170,000 pages of documents, largely related to the 2017 federal probe of Cohen's payment to Daniels (and mostly reflecting evidence already turned over to Trump's lawyers in June 2023).Trump's lawyers sought a delay in the trial on the basis of the newly produced records; the DA's office said in court that only 300 of the documents were relevant to Trump's defense. On March 15, 2024, the judge delayed the start of trial until mid-April. On March 25, 2024, the judge set a trial date of April 15, and denied a motion by Trump's team to further delay the trial. On May 23, 2024, Merchan denied Trump's request to sanction prosecutors regarding the document release, ruling that the defense was provided sufficient time to respond.
Further requests to postpone the trial were denied although Merchan allowed Trump to attend his son Barron's high-school graduation on May 17. On May 17, Donald and Melania Trump attended their son's graduation from Oxbridge Academy at West Palm Beach, followed by a visit to Lincoln Reagan Dinner at the 2024 annual Minnesota Republican convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
On February 26, 2024, the Manhattan DA asked for a gag order on Trump, noting that Trump has been fined $15,000 for two violations of a gag order in the civil fraud trial by disparaging the judge's law clerk on social media, and reporting that police had logged 89 threats to Bragg, his family, or staff in 2023. On March 7, Merchan ruled that the jury would be anonymous except to some involved in the trial, including Trump, his lawyers, and prosecutors. On March 26, Merchan imposed a gag order on Trump, restricting what he could say publicly about people involved in the case. Additionally, the judge warned the defense, under the threat of contempt, against dilatory tactics such as the late filing of pretrial motions or last-minute demands, pointing out that Trump had "stated publicly that the defense goal is to delay these proceedings. On March 26, Trump made online posts attacking the judge, the gag order, and Merchan's daughter, the latter over an anti-Trump social-media post created by someone impersonating her on social media. The same day, Merchan imposed a gag order forbidding Trump to publicly comment on court staff, prosecutors, prospective jurors, or their families, or to cause others to make such statements, in a way that interferes with the case. The court also ordered Trump not to comment on prospective trial witnesses concerning their potential participation in the criminal case.
On March 27 and 28, Trump again attacked Merchan's daughter on social media. On April 1, Merchan expanded the gag order to protect his and Bragg's family members, saying attacks on them "serve no legitimate purpose". He wrote that Trump's continued attacks posted a "very real" threat to the integrity of proceedings and could cause those involved in the case to fear for themselves and their families, which would "undoubtedly interfere with the fair administration of justice and constitutes a direct attack on the Rule of Law itself". On April 11, Trump disparaged expected witnesses Cohen and Daniels on social media, referring to them as dishonest "sleaze bags". On May 6, Merchan found Trump in contempt of court for the tenth time, but stated that he did not wish to jail Trump due to the fact that Trump was a former president. On May 14, a New York appeals court denied Trump's request to overturn the gag order.
The following witnesses testified for the prosecution:
April 22-25 David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer
April 26: Rhona Graf, Donald Trump executive assistant; Gary Farro, First Republic banker
April 30: Robert Browning, C-SPAN Executive Director for Archives; Phillip Thompson, Regional Director of Esquire Deposition Solutions;
Keith Davidson, Former attorney for Stormy Daniels
May 2: Douglas Daus, computer forensics specialist in the Manhattan DA's office
May 3: Hope Hicks, Former White House Communications Director
May 6: Jeffrey McConney, Former Trump Organization comptroller; Deborah Tarasoff, Trump Organization accounting employee
May 7: Sally Franklin, Penguin Books executive; Stormy Daniels
May 9: Rebecca Manochio, Trump Organization bookkeeper; Tracey Menzies, Senior vice president at Harper Collins; Madeleine Westerhout, former Director of Oval Office Operations
May 10: Jennie Tomalin, Verizon senior analyst; Daniel Dixon, AT&T compliance analyst; Jaden Jarmel-Schneider, Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office; Georgia Longstreet; Paralegal in the Manhattan DA's office
May 13-16, 20: Michael Cohen
These defense witnesses testified:
May 20: Daniel Sitko, Paralegal for defense attorney; Robert Costello, Associate of Michael Cohen
Trump was required to attend every day of trial barring a court-approved absence.
On May 28, the defense gave a three-hour closing argument. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche claimed Trump had nothing to do with checks which were written by Trump's sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump. Blanche questioned why prosecutors did not call Donald Jr. and Eric as witnesses despite their signing payment checks to Cohen. Blanche also showed an email revealing that McConnery sought approval from both Donald Jr. and Eric. Blanche alleged that it was Cohen's decision to make the hush-money payment and attacked Cohen's credibility. Blanche also sought to discredit Daniels' ambitions, noting (among other things) text messages between her manager and publicist Gina Rodriguez and Dylan Howard which showed that Howard believed Pecker would pay for her story shortly after the Access Hollywood tape was released. Merchan admonished Blanche for telling the jury: "You cannot send someone to prison, you cannot convict somebody, based upon the words of Michael Cohen." Merchan said this type of comment is "highly inappropriate" and "not allowed" because the jury is not supposed to consider the sentence.
The same day, prosecution gave a four-hour and 41 minute closing argument. Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass described Pecker's testimony as "utterly damning". He noted that some key parts of Daniels' story were proven true and added that the defense appeared to acknowledge that Trump knew about the Daniels payment. Steinglass argued that Cohen was Trump's "fixer" and that his knowledge was "limited to what actually happened". It was noted that Cohen did not work for the Trump Organization's legal department and answered directly to Trump. Steinglass went over phone conversations between Trump and Cohen regarding the hush-money payment and showed a December 2017 check to Cohen signed via Sharpie by Donald Trump, arguing that the latter must have known the purpose of such checks, as his "entire business philosophy was and is to be involved in everything". Steinglass further stated that the payment was made to "hoodwink the American voter".
On May 29, the jury began deliberations. A few hours in, they asked to hear a readback of about 30 minutes of testimony by Pecker and Cohen. This involved an August 2015 meeting between these two, Trump, and Hicks, in which Pecker pledged to be Trump's "eyes and ears" regarding negative stories about him. The jury wanted to hear Pecker's testimony regarding an alleged phone call from Trump in which the two discussed a rumor that McDougal had gone to another outlet to publish her story.
On May 30, Judge Merchan had planned to conclude the jury deliberations for the day at 4:30 p.m. But at 4:20 p.m. he received a note from the jurors which read, “We the jury have reached a verdict,” it said, and asked for an extra 30 minutes to fill out the verdict form. Just before 5 p.m., the judge returned to the bench. He instructed court officers to bring the jury into the courtroom. When the 12 jurors and 6 alternate jurors entered the courtoom, most looked straight ahead as they walked past Trump. A court clerk asked: “How say you to the first count of the indictment, charging Donald J. Trump with falsifying business records in the first degree?” a court staffer asked. “Guilty,” the foreperson, whose name has not been publicly released, said in a steady voice. The same answer, “guilty,” came again and again and Trump was convicted of all 34 counts of falsifying records at his company as part of a broad scheme to cover up payments made to a porn actor during the 2016 election.
Merchan thanked the jury for its work, stating, “You were engaged in a very stressful and difficult task,” he said, adding that the weeks of the trial were “a long time to be away from your jobs, your families, all of your responsibilities.” The jury was then excused. Trump stood as jurors filtered out of the courtroom, appearing to be looking at them one by one as they passed in front of him.