Former US President Donald Trump entered a New York courtroom on Monday for a hearing in the case against him involving hush money paid to pornographic actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Trump is charged with falsifying business records to conceal the payment, marking the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president.
Trump, the Republican nominee who will face incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden in November’s election, has maintained his innocence. This case is reportedly the only one of Trump’s four active criminal prosecutions likely to proceed before the November 5th election. Legal experts have indicated that this case holds less significance compared to Trump’s other legal challenges. A guilty verdict in this case would not prevent him from holding office, although it could potentially harm his candidacy.
Last year, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records terkait with the $130,000 payment to Daniels. Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, made the payment to Daniels during the 2016 campaign in exchange for her silence regarding an alleged sexual encounter with Trump that occurred a decade prior. Daniels has stated that she engaged in a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, one year after his marriage to then-future First Lady Melania.
