LIVE – Updated at 17:00
Donald Trump is making history once again as the first American president to ever stand trial on criminal charges.
The former president has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in a bid to conceal a hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, in order to silence her over an alleged affair in 2006.
The charges on their own are misdemeanours but have been elevated to felonies because Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg says they were carried out to facilitate another crime – violating state or federal election laws.
Mr Trump denies both the affair and has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Before jury selection gets underway, Judge Juan Merchan has denied a recusal motion and both sides are now debating what evidence can be admitted. A transcript of the Access Hollywood tape will be admitted, as will testimony from ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal but not in the context of Melania Trump’s pregnancy.
Earlier on Monday morning, Mr Trump instantly unleashed a series of rants on Truth Social blasting “the Biden Manhattan Witch Hunt Case” and claiming he wants “my VOICE back”.
Key Points
- Judge will allow evidence about Karen McDougal but not Melania Trump’s pregnancy
- Trump unleashes Truth Social rant as he wakes to historic first day of criminal hush money trial
- What will happen at today’s jury selection?
- The porn star, the doorman and the disgraced lawyer: Who’s who in Trump’s hush money case?
- Inside the Stormy Daniels hush money case that led to Trump’s arrest
- Will Trump’s hush money trial be televised?
Judge Merchan says his earlier decision regarding Michael Cohen was clear, and leaves it at that.
Prosecutors “certainly cannot imply or suggest” that because Cohen pleaded guilty Mr Trump is also guilty.”
First courtroom sketches show historic trial
16:57 , Oliver O’Connell
Prosecutors seek clarification about what can be said about Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea
16:50 , Oliver O’Connell
The Independent’s Alex Woodward reports from court:
Prosecutors want clarification about what they can say about Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations. Trump lawyer Todd Blanche said the defence doesn’t intend to open the door to that plea during cross-examination.
Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations as well as tax evasion and making false statements in 2018, including an admission that he received “$280,000 in payments to be made to silence two women who otherwise planned to speak publicly about their alleged affairs with a presidential candidate, thereby intending to influence the 2016 presidential election,” according to federal prosecutors at the time.
Blanche said the defence has no intention of raising the campaign finance violations when they bring up charges against him.
“I’m not sure how you can pick and choose,” Judge Merchan replied.
16:40 , Oliver O’Connell
Court resumes.
16:20 , Oliver O’Connell
Court is taking a 15-minute break.
Prosecutors ask to admit communications about Michael Cohen
16:11 , Oliver O’Connell
The Independent’s Alex Woodward reports from court:
Prosecutors now asking to admit tweets and “back-door” communications showing Trump trying to keep Cohen close and dissuade him from cooperating with law enforcement.
“The truth is Michael Cohen stayed loyal as long as he did because of the defendant’s pressure campaign,” Steinglass said.
Steinglass also points to Truth Social posts from around the time of grand jury presentation in this case in early 2023, including a post on March 15 2022:
“I did nothing wrong in the horse face case,” Trump said at the time. “She knows nothing about me other than her conman lawyer, Avenatti, and convicted liar and felon, jailbird Michael Cohen, may have schemed up.”
Trump was using his platform “to influence the work of the grand jury,” Steinglass said.
The trial jury should be able to consider “his very public statements” seen “as attempts to intimidate witnesses to stay quiet,” he added. “This effort continues to this very day.”
Steinglass mentions a forthcoming motion to show why Trump shouldn’t be held in contempt for his statements about the trial.
Steinglass argued Trump’s ongoing comments about trial witnesses are a “blatant violation of the court order about extrajudicial statements,” the gag order in the case.
He pointed to one from last week that thanked Michael Avenatti for revealing the “truth” about “two sleaze bags,” followed by another post referring to Cohen and Daniels.
16:02 , Oliver O’Connell
The judge denies prosecutors’ attempt to bring in unrelated sexual assault allegations against Trump.
Steinglass showed several statements from Trump and comments at his campaign rallies in 2016 that he argued “powerfully demonstrate the extent to which Trump was preoccupied” with those allegations before Election Day.
“His comments make little sense taken out of context” and are “clearly referring to allegations of sexual assault,” he added. “This concern over losing female voters was the catalyst … to lock down the Stormy Daniels story.”
The judge says the statements are all admissible but the allegations themselves are not.
Judge to allow discussion of Access Hollywood tape
15:55 , Oliver O’Connell
Here’s the latest from The Independent’s Alex Woodward: at the courthouse:
Judge Merchan allows discussion of what is said on the tape – but reiterates that jurors cannot see the actual tape.
He also does not allow the transcript from Trump’s deposition in the E Jean Carroll case about the tape, arguing that all that the transcript shows is that Trump admits to saying that.
“My ruling that we were not to play the tape was and remains that the tape itself is so prejudicial, to see Mr Trump depicted, the words coming out of his mouth, his facial expressions, the hand gestures,” he said.
An email thread about the comments on the tape, however, “demonstrates and bolsters the People’s claim that this was a … critical event, and there was a response within the campaign,” Judge Merchan said.
“The people are not limited to the choice of words that are used in describing the tape,” he added, saying that prosecutors can “bring out what was said” on the tape but not use his own voice to show it.
Prosecutor asks to admit transcripts of Access Hollywood tape
15:51 , Oliver O’Connell
Alex Woodward reports:
Prosecutors are asking to admit transcripts that describe what exactly was said in the Access Hollywood tape, which the judge has previously denied showing jurors.
Steinglass said that “excluding the actual words used” and hearing what that tape was about and why it had such a “dramatic impact on the campaign” is misleading to jurors.
He read part of the transcript: “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful – I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p****. You can do anything.”
He also mentioned that Trump himself called his remarks “locker room talk,” but if jurors can’t read or hear what was said, they won’t know what he was actually responding to, Steinglass argues.
Here’s some background on the infamous tape and its relevance to the trial:
‘Access Hollywood’ tape won’t be played at Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal trial, judge rules
Judge will allow evidence about Karen McDougal but not Melania Trump’s pregnancy
15:44 , Oliver O’Connell
Alex Woodward reports:
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass also is asking to introduce evidence about Karen McDougal and to argue that Melania Trump was pregnant at the time of Trump’s affair.
The judge allows that narrative but not the inclusion of Ms Trump’s pregnancy.
But he notes that “we don’t know how evidence will be brought in” or what will come up in cross-examination and whether any “doors” will open.
Steinglass said prosecutors have “no intent to elicit salacious details of the affair … unless the defendant opens the door,” but the fact she was pregnant lends credence to the idea that the release of the story would be damaging to his campaign, and reveals the “lengthy they would go to suppress it,” he said.
“The only value would be to embarrass President Trump,” Todd Blanche said in response.
“The risk of unfair prejudice is through the roof,” he added. “It has nothing to do with the trial. He’s not charged with this conduct.”
The “interjection” of McDougal’s story into this trial creates a “side trial we can’t do anything about,” he said. “It’s literally just salacious without value.”
15:33 , Oliver O’Connell
Judge Merchan will allow it, with some minor reservations.
“I believe the People have demonstrated that being able to establish that there was this understanding – I want to stay away from the word ‘conspiracy’ that wasn’t charged in this case … in furtherance of this goal,” he said.
Understanding that is “necessary to complete the narrative of what took place,” he said.
Prosecutors ask to admit evidence of ‘catch and kill’ scheme
15:31 , Oliver O’Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the court:
Prosecutors are asking to admit evidence to underscore the August 2015 Trump Tower agreement that outlined the “catch and kill” scheme.
David Pecker and AMI would “serve as the eyes and the ears of the campaign” and “gather information that would be harmful to the trump candidacy and report to Michael Cohen … to prevent that information from ever seeing the light of day,” according to Joshua Steinglass.
The agreement also included a plan to “publish positive stories about Trump and negative stories of his opponents.”
They want to admit, among other stories, National Enquirer headlines that were “timed perfectly to achieve maximum effect,” including one about Marco Rubio accusing him of abusing drugs.
“All three components of the Trump Tower agreement were made with boosting Trump’s candidacy” and “put their thumbs on the scale,” Steinglass says.
Todd Blanche responds, telling the court that such agreements “happen all the time.”
“It happens in candidacies all over this country,” he said. “The jury can’t learn anything from that that they wouldn’t already know.”
He said that when prosecutors claim that there’s “no risk of unfair prejudice … the opposite is true.”
“This has nothing to do with the charged conduct … It becomes a sideshow,” he said.
Meanwhile…
15:25 , Oliver O’Connell
Over at the Nasdaq, in another part of Manhattan, Trump Media shares are plummeting after the company filed to issue additional stock.
15:18 , Oliver O’Connell
Alex Woodward reports:
Judge Merchan is reminding those present that the court will “work through lunch” during the first two days of Passover (April 22-23) and the last day (April 30) to accommodate parties to observe before sundown.
Team Trump has also requested that the trial adjourn on Friday 17 May to attend Barron Trump’s high school graduation. Another defence member wants to attend their child’s graduation on 3 June.
Judge Merchan said he “cannot rule at this time” on those requests.
“If we’re running behind schedule, we will not be able to,” he said.
In pictures: Trump in court for historic hush money trial
15:13 , Oliver O’Connell
Judge denies recusal motion
15:11 , Oliver O’Connell
Alex Woodward reports from the court:
The judge is reading through the allegations, including the judge’s very general statements about the case to the media, false allegations that the judge’s daughter posted about Trump on social media, and allegations that the case is “impossibly compromised because a family member stands to benefit from this court’s ruling”.
Judge Merchan says that any claim that the allegations are “attenuated is an understatement”.
In other words, nothing about anything Trump alleged proves that the court is in any way compromised.
“For these reasons, the defendant’s second motion for recusal is denied, and the court will not address this matter further.”
Judge Merchan takes seat
15:02 , Alex Woodward
Judge Juan Merchan has entered the courtroom and taken his seat on the bench.
“There are a couple of loose ends we need to go over before we can start,” he begins.
First to consider is Donald Trump’s motion to recuse Judge Merchan.
15:00 , Oliver O’Connell
Considering he’s sitting in court with his hands crossed on the table in front of him, Donald Trump’s Truth Social account is particularly active this morning.
There have been approximately 15 posts since he entered the courtroom. One can only assume an aide is posting on his behalf.
14:54 , Oliver O’Connell
