Every day brings new drama about Trump’s legal perils. Here’s why today really matters

On 30 March 2023, the streets surrounding Manhattan Criminal Court in downtown New York were lined with media, protesters, bystanders and police officers in awe of a historic moment many thought would never happen: the criminal indictment of New Yorker and former president Donald Trump.

Years after the Manhattan district attorney’s office opened an investigation into Mr Trump’s financial records, after allegations of wrongdoing by those in his inner circle, the controversial former president wasfacing criminal charges.

In the days following, the world fixated its eyes on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as he announced 34 counts of falsifying business records against Mr Trump related to a hush-money cover-up scheme ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The unsealing of the indictment sparked excitement among Mr Trump’s opponents, fury among his allies and sheer awe for everyone in between.

“This is a turning point, hopefully, in the salvation of our democracy,” protester Robert Hoatson told The Independent outside the courthouse on that historic day.

The former president also recognised the day’s gravitas, though striking a different tone with an ominous warning that the “witch hunt” of an indictment could bring about “death and destruction”.

But now, one year later, the New York criminal case appears only a speck in the galaxy of legal problems that have mounted against the former president.

And the start of the trial, once imagined as Mr Trump’s demise, could seem to some like just another Monday in Trumpworld.

In the months following the New York criminal indictment, Mr Trump was charged with a total of 52 other criminal charges spanning three jurisdictions on both state and federal levels. The accusations