Trump’s hush-money trial: prosecutors’ key arguments in criminal case

On Monday, 15 April 2024, Donald Trump will go on trial in Manhattan, making him the first former US president to face a criminal jury. More than 500 prospective jurors have been summoned to Manhattan supreme court in preparation for a selection process that could span days.

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, in spring 2023 charged Trump with 34 counts of falsifying business records over an alleged hush-money scheme involving adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal. The charge is a class E felony.

Bragg’s office contends that Trump facilitated payoffs to the women through his then attorney, Michael Cohen, to cover up alleged extramarital liaisons that could have damaged his candidacy in the 2016 election. They say that the illicit “catch and kill” payoff scheme spanned from August 2015 to December 2017. Cohen in 2018 pleaded guilty to federal charges in Manhattan related to his involvement in that particular scheme, among other crimes.

Trump has maintained his innocence. As with the other criminal and civil cases against him, Trump has largely claimed these proceedings are a politically motivated witch-hunt, intended to impede his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.

Here are the key points in Manhattan prosecutors’ case against Trump.

Prosecutors charge that Cohen wired $130,000 to Daniels’ then attorney just 12 days before the presidential election. Cohen funneled the money by making the payoff through a shell company, which was funded through a New York City bank, prosecutors say.

When Trump won the election, prosecutors continue, he repaid Cohen in a series of monthly checks. Initially, those checks came from the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust – which was launched in New