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  • Alvin Bragg’s Next Choice on Trump Provides a Political Predicament

    Alvin Bragg’s Next Choice on Trump Provides a Political Predicament

    NEW YORK CITY — Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district lawyer, entered into previous President Donald Trump’s hush-money trial besieged by death dangers from extremists, reproval from political analysts for developing a nationwide diversion (“Conserve the mug shots for Georgia, the handcuffs for Jan. 6,” composed Peggy Noonan in The Wall Street Journal) and criticism from legal experts who saw the case as structurally unsound, too quixotic to continue. The outcome nonetheless was a guilty decision on all 34 counts of falsifying organization records in the name of hiding a dubious plan to interrupt the 2016 election.

    The district lawyer’s work will quickly turn to the sentencing memo his workplace will provide to the judge in the event, Juan M. Merchan, which should show similarly questionable no matter what it suggests. Trump was founded guilty of class E felonies, the most affordable level in the state, and might be sentenced to probation or as much as 4 years in jail — or, additionally, what is called a split sentence, with a reasonably short quantity of time invested in a city prison in advance of a probationary decision. (The idea of a previous president and his requisite Trick Service information all stacking into Rikers Island is not likely.)

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    Definitely to be thought about is the truth that Michael Cohen, among the administrators of the conspiracy for which Trump functioned as impresario, was sentenced to 3 years in federal jail — though he eventually did not serve the complete term — after pleading guilty to project financing offenses and lying to Congress. In 2015, Allen Weisselberg, the previous chief monetary officer of the Trump Company, invested 100 days in prison after pleading guilty to tax scams including his previous company — likewise a “documents” infraction. And he was sentenced to prison time once again in April, in accordance with Bragg’s suggestions, after pleading guilty to perjury in Trump’s civil scams trial.

    The political effects around this problem are layered, both in regards to the governmental election and Bragg’s own profession. Unlike a federal district attorney in a comparable position, Bragg is a chosen authorities. (Approved, history supplies no comparable example of a county district attorney weighing in on the fate of an ex-president with a criminal conviction.) Must he flex towards leniency, he deals with the prospective reaction of the Trump-hating Manhattan Democrats who would keep him in workplace. Must he lean into severe penalty, he deals with charges of hypocrisy from legal perfectionists in addition to a huge Trump support group, which, as one previous district attorney put it, would raise countless dollars immediately off the classification of an optimal sentence.

    Bragg is a popular reformist who has actually developed his credibility on turning away from the prosecution of low-level street offenses and promoting anti-carceral techniques to criminal justice. What would it indicate for him to send out a 77-year-old guy without any previous rap sheet to jail?

    “It’s an unfortunate day to put anybody in prison. ‘Lock him up’ — we don’t think in that,” Duncan Levin, a previous Manhattan district attorney turned defense attorney, informed me. “A conviction of a previous president is unfortunate,” he included, and the job of sentencing him is one “you wouldn’t want on anybody.”

    Still, Levin preserved that he had a hard time “to picture an E felony case that calls out for prison time more than this one.” He indicated Trump’s 3 pending indictments, his absence of shown regret — which is provided significant attention throughout sentencing choices — and the numerous times he was held in contempt throughout the trial.

    “You can slam the DA for requesting prison time as politically inspired,’’ Levin stated, “However it doesn’t indicate that Trump doesn’t deserve it.”

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  • Trump condemned on all 34 counts of falsifying service records. Here’s a breakdown.

    Trump condemned on all 34 counts of falsifying service records. Here’s a breakdown.

    A New york city jury all discovered Donald Trump guilty of 34 felony counts of falsifying service records, a sensational conclusion to the historical trial of the previous president.

    Manhattan District Lawyer Alvin Bragg had actually brought charges versus Trump coming from his $130,000 payment throughout the 2016 governmental project to adult movie starlet Stormy Daniels. That payment, Daniels affirmed, was planned to purchase her silence, and district attorneys argued that Trump looked for to conceal it from citizens.

    Throughout the trial, Michael Cohen, Trump’s previous attorney, affirmed that he paid Daniels on behalf of Trump which he exercised a compensation plan with the Trump Company. Without any legal retainer contract in location, Cohen stated he sent regular monthly $35,000 billings for costs amounting to $420,000, that included the $130,000 payment to Daniels.

    These billings, checks and other monetary files were amongst the proof that district attorneys declare shown Trump had actually falsified service records in order to conceal the hush cash payment.

    Below are the 34 counts, as noted by the DA’s workplace, and the jury’s decision on every one.

    Count 1 (falsifying service records in the very first degree): Guilty

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated February 14, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 842457, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 842460, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about February 14, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account examine and examine stub dated February 14, 2017, bearing check number 000138, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about March 16, 2017 through March 17, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated February 16, 2017 and transferred on or about March 16, 2017, marked as a record of the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about March 17, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust, bearing voucher number 846907, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about March 17, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust Account examine and examine stub dated March 17, 2017, bearing check number 000147, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about April 13, 2017 through June 19, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated April 13, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about June 19, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 858770, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about June 19, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub dated June 19, 2017, bearing check number 002740, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about Might 22, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen outdated Might 22, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about May 22, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 855331, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about May 23, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub outdated Might 23, 2017, bearing check number 002700, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about June 16, 2017 through June 19, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated June 16, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about June 19, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 858772, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about June 19, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub dated June 19, 2017, bearing check number 002741, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about July 11, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated July 11, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about July 11, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 861096, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about July 11, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub dated July 11, 2017, bearing check number 002781, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about August 1, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated August 1, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about August 1, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 863641, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about August 1, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub dated August 1, 2017, bearing check number 002821, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about September 11, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen outdated September 11, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about September 11, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 868174, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about September 12, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub outdated September 12, 2017, bearing check number 002908, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about October 18, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen outdated October 18, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about October 18, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 872654, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about October 18, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub outdated October 18, 2017, bearing check number 002944, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about November 20, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated November 20, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about November 20, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 876511, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about November 21, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub outdated November 21, 2017, bearing check number 002980, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about December 1, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a billing from Michael Cohen dated December 1, 2017, marked as a record of Donald J. Trump, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about December 1, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, an entry in the Information General Journal for Donald J. Trump, bearing voucher number 877785, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

    “The offender, in the County of New york city and in other places, on or about December 5, 2017, with intent to defraud and intent to devote another criminal offense and help and hide the commission thereof, made and triggered an incorrect entry in business records of a business, to wit, a Donald J. Trump account examine and check stub dated December 5, 2017, bearing check number 003006, and kept and preserved by the Trump Company.”

  • Longtime fixer Cohen testifies in hush money trial. What you missed on Day 16.

    Longtime fixer Cohen testifies in hush money trial. What you missed on Day 16.

    Donald Trump’s longtime fixer and lawyer, Michael Cohen, testified Monday that he was acting at Trump’s behest when he made hush money payments to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.

    For weeks in Manhattan criminal court in New York City, Trump’s defense attorneys have sought to puncture Cohen’s credibility with the jury, and even witnesses have painted him as hot-headed, self-interested and untrustworthy.

    “I didn’t know Michael to be an especially charitable person or selfless person,” said Hope Hicks, Trump’s former communications aide, when she was on the stand. Cohen’s former banker said he was assigned to him because of his “ability to handle individuals who are challenging.”

    But on the stand for the first time, Cohen presented himself as cool-headed and recalled how he had worked at Trump’s behest to suppress stories that posed a threat, negotiating with tabloid publisher David Pecker and ultimately procuring $130,000 of his own money to pay off a porn star — with the promise of reimbursement.

    “You’re a billionaire. Just pay it,’” Cohen said Trump’s friends told him. “And he expressed to me: ‘Just do it. Meet up with Allen Weisselberg and figure this whole thing out.’”

    Cohen and prosecutors have made no secret that they have gone to lengths to prep him for his testimony — but the real test may come Tuesday, when cross-examination by Trump’s lawyer is expected to begin.

    But first, here is what you missed Monday:

    Trump v. Cohen

    Cohen’s testimony had long been billed as the main event — a former Trump confidant who was closer to him than almost any other ally, having flipped — a term Trump often employs — and agreeing to testify against him.

    The prosecution spent much of the run-up trying to bolster Cohen’s credibility by using documents and the accounts of reluctant witnesses and some who remain in Trump’s good graces as corroborators.

    That was done to try to make Cohen sound more believable.

    “What I was doing was at the direction of and for the benefit of Mr. Trump,” Cohen said on the stand. (Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records related to the payments Cohen paid. He has denied all charges.)

    Trump’s shoulders were slightly slumped, and his eyes remained closed as Cohen explained in grinding detail how he was working hand in glove with Pecker to “catch and kill” stories and testified about private conversations with Trump, including one Cohen recorded, which was played in court.

    Cohen offers some sentiment about his time working for Trump

    Cohen cut a slight figure as he arrived in the room. A court officer towered over him as he walked behind the defense table and to the stand. He appeared thinner, his hair gray and his voice growing stronger through the day.

    Like those of other witnesses, Cohen’s early career blossomed after he began to work for Trump. He was working at a “sleepy” law firm before Trump enlisted him to do some work on a Chapter 11 reorganization of Trump Entertainment Resorts. When Cohen approached him about the bill for his services, Trump offered him a job, and he accepted. The bill was never paid.

    Cohen said he enjoyed working with the “big family” at the Trump Organization. He felt a sense of obligation and sometimes lied for him, he said. “The only thing that was on my mind was to accomplish the task to make him happy,” he said.

    Damage control

    After he learned in early October 2016 that Stormy Daniels was looking to sell her story, Cohen said, he feared a “catastrophic” effect on Trump’s campaign.

    The campaign was dealing with the fallout from the “Access Hollywood” tape and fearing mounting electoral consequences. It was the idea of Trump’s wife, Melania, to dismiss the recording as “locker room talk,” Cohen said Trump told him.

    Cohen described escalating concern as a deal to suppress Daniels’ story began to fall apart.

    Trump pushed Cohen, he testified, to strike a deal and then delay payment until after the election — arguing that win or lose, it wouldn’t matter that the story came out afterward as long as she stayed silent through Election Day in hope of a payout.

    “Because if I win it will have no relevance, and if I lose, I don’t really care,” Cohen said Trump told him.

    Cohen makes the payment — and then is angry about his bonus

    At the heart of Cohen’s first day of testimony was a running theme —something the prosecutors had thus far failed to show — that Trump was personally aware of every step, in the payments to both Daniels and former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal.

    Cohen said he met with Weisselberg, the Trump Organization chief financial officer, to figure out ways they might be able to Daniels or repay the National Enquirer without having Trump’s fingerprints on the payment. Weisselberg floated different mechanisms to fund the payment, such as a golf membership, but he said they needed to separate the payment from the Trump name and so devised a plan for Cohen to form an outside shell company and use his own money to pay, Cohen said.

    Cohen testified that months later, when he received his annual bonus — a check that was consistently large over the years, he was shocked to find it was two-thirds lower than in previous years.

    Add that to having already paid out of his own pocket to silence Daniels but not yet having been reimbursed, and Cohen said he was irate.

    “I was truly insulted, personally hurt,” he testified. “After all that I had gone through in terms of the campaigning, as well as things at the Trump Organization, laying out $130,000 on his behalf to protect him — that the gratitude shown back to me was to cut the bonus by two-thirds.

    “I actually had to do a double take.”

    Trump wasn’t worried about upsetting wife

    Trying to anticipate an argument the defense has appeared to invoke, Cohen was asked about whether Melania Trump was the motivation for the hush money payments.

    Cohen testified he had asked Trump about her, saying, “How are things going to go upstairs?”

    “Don’t worry,” Trump responded. “How long do you think I’ll be on the market for? Not long.”

    Anticipation of women’s stories

    Cohen recalled before the jury how Trump told him that once he launched his campaign, he risked women coming out of the woodwork to sell stories about him.

    “You know when this comes out,” Trump told him about his presidential announcement, “there are going to be a lot of women coming forward,” Cohen said.

    That’s what led to the 2015 Trump Tower meeting with Pecker, Cohen said — an agreement that the Enquirer could make Trump look good while he ran for president.

    “If we can place positive stories about Mr. Trump, that would be beneficial,” Cohen testified. “That if we could place negative stories about some of the other candidates, that would also be beneficial.”

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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  • Stormy Daniels testimony was lurid and powerful – but Trump voters don’t care

    Stormy Daniels testimony was lurid and powerful – but Trump voters don’t care

    Stormy Daniels may have regarded sex with Donald Trump as brief, unimaginative and regrettable but the porn star gripped the nation with a salacious and lengthy retelling of the encounter to a New York court this week.

    Daniels’s humiliating testimony in Trump’s fraud trial infuriated the former president who glowered from a few feet away. But her account only confirmed what most Americans already knew about a man widely regarded as a sexual predator and appeared unlikely to change many votes in November’s presidential election.

    New York state is prosecuting Trump for fraud for allegedly using his business, the Trump Organization, to pay $130,000 in hush money to Daniels days before the 2016 election. She went public anyway two years later with a book, Full Disclosure, in which she claimed to have had sex with Trump once.

    Related: Text messages with Enquirer editor: Trump trial key takeaways, day 15

    The former US president continues to deny the encounter but opinion polls show that most Republicans think he’s lying. They also don’t care.

    Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said that many Trump voters may be absorbed by unusually lurid testimony for a fraud trial, but he doubts it will make a significant difference to the outcome of the second round of Trump v Biden.

    “When the details about Stormy Daniels finally came out during Trump’s presidency, people just instinctively knew it was true. Just like people instinctively knew that Bill Clinton had fooled around because he’d done it so many times before. People are not stupid. But in this era, it doesn’t matter much. Twenty years ago, Trump wouldn’t even be the Republican nominee. Now it doesn’t move the needle at all,” he said.

    Daniels spent more than seven hours on the witness stand describing her encounter with Trump at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe in 2006. She was a hostess at a hospitality tent run by the pornographic film company Wicked Pictures.

    Trump, who was 60 years old at the time and had a newborn son with his wife of less than a year, invited Daniels, who was 27, to dinner. She went along on the advice of her publicist who said: “What could possibly go wrong?”

    Daniels told the court how she went to meet Trump at his penthouse suite expecting to go to a restaurant only to find him in satin pyjamas. She said her evening evolved from administering a playful spanking with a magazine that had Trump’s face on the cover to her alarm at finding him spread across a bed stripped down to his underwear.

    Daniels said he then pressured her into having sex.

    “I was staring up at the ceiling, wondering how I got there,” she told the jury.

    The judge stopped Daniels rapid-fire testimony at times, telling her the jurors did not need to know the pair had sex in the missionary position, with Daniels keeping her bra on, or that Trump didn’t use a condom. But by then they had heard it and, like almost everyone else in court and around the country, were unlikely to forget.

    Daniels said the sex “was brief” although, apparently, not brief enough.

    “I felt ashamed that I didn’t stop it, that I didn’t say no,” she said.

    All but the president’s most diehard supporters are likely to have recoiled at Daniels’s account that in the midst of all this Trump told her she reminded him of his daughter Ivanka.

    That evening, the late-night talkshow host Jimmy Kimmel joked, “Feels like we should lock him up just for that,” to applause from the audience.

    Daniels’s testimony also overshadowed the mundane but more relevant evidence about the mechanics of the alleged fraud although the prosecution’s key witness, Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, has yet to testify. Cohen handled the payment to Daniels to buy her silence and has already served 13 months in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion and breaching campaign finance laws over the transaction.

    Still, Sabato is sceptical that even evidence that Trump stole from his own company will do much to dent his support.

    “The group of American voters that used to care deeply about issues like that, and who put Bill Clinton through the wringer, are white evangelical Christians. And now we’ve got the orange Jesus in their view. They long ago excused Trump anything,” he said.

    Instead, the trial has only gone to strengthen the view of many Trump supporters that he is a victim of an establishment conspiracy. Eight in 10 Trump voters believe the fraud investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, was rigged to frame the former president.

    Rick Scott, a Republican senator, turned up at the court on Thursday to claim that Trump was only being prosecuted because he is running for the White House again, calling the trial a “pure political persecution”.

    A conviction in the case might be another matter. An ABC News/Ipsos poll this month showed that while 80% of Trump’s supporters will stand by him if he is convicted of a felony, 16% would reconsider their support and 4% would walk away from the former president.

    Given the slim margins by which swing states are decided in the presidential election, Sabato said that could prove enough to sink Trump’s bid for another term in the White House.

    On the other hand, it appears increasingly unlikely the former president will go on trial before the election on the multiple charges – ranging from mishandling classified documents to his role in the 6 January 2021 storming of the Capitol – he faces in Florida, Georgia and Washington DC.

    “What Trump did in the documents case is completely outrageous but people don’t care,” said Sabato. “The only one that would have an impact is the January 6 case because people don’t fully understand that this was an attempted coup d’état. You have enough focus on that in a trial and then you peel away one or 2% from Trump, which can probably decide the election. But it’s not going to be held before November now, so he’s slipped away.”

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  • Hope Hicks broke down in tears on the witness stand during Trump-damaging testimony at hush-money trial

    Hope Hicks broke down in tears on the witness stand during Trump-damaging testimony at hush-money trial

    • Hope Hicks, a former longtime advisor to Donald Trump, took the witness stand in his hush-money trial Friday.

    • Just after Trump’s lawyer began cross-examining her, she broke down in tears.

    • Hicks was Trump’s 2016 campaign press secretary and later his White House communications director.

    Hope Hicks, an ex-White House aide and longtime advisor to Donald Trump, broke down in tears while on the witness stand on Friday in the former president’s hush-money criminal trial.

    Her voice cracked as she began answering questions Friday afternoon from defense lawyer Emil Bove, who had asked her whether the Trump Organization created the position of communications director to persuade her to join the company in October 2014.

    After answering “yes,” Hicks grabbed a tissue and turned to her left while sitting on the witness stand. She turned her face and body away from the courtroom audience.

    “Ms. Hicks, do you need a break?” the trial judge Juan Merchan asked.

    “Yes, please,” she responded in a cracked voice, while facing away from the judge.

    After the judge announced a break just before 3 p.m., Hicks walked across the courtroom, passing by Trump without looking at him.

    Hicks is a key witness in the trial, potentially linking Trump directly to what prosecutors call an election-influencing scheme to purchase a porn star’s silence in the days before the 2016 presidential election.

    On the stand in the chilly 15th-floor downtown Manhattan courtroom, she that she was testifying pursuant to a subpoena in the historic case.

    Prosecutors in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office allege Trump falsified 34 business records in order to cover up an illegal $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

    The payment, delivered by Trump’s ex-personal attorney and former fixer Michael Cohen, was wired to Daniels 11 days before the 2016 presidential election to buy her silence over a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, according to records shown as evidence in the trial.

    Trump’s lawyers have claimed the payment was not an illegal campaign contradiction, and was made to avoid personal embarrassment.

    But Hicks — Trump’s 2016 campaign press secretary — testified about working with Trump and Cohen as the campaign responded to media inquiries about the scandal.

    In their opening statements last week, prosecutors said the campaign was particularly vulnerable to the perceptions of female voters following the publication of the “Access Hollywood” tape. And so Trump sprung into action to block Daniels from going public about an affair she says she had with him.

    “I was definitely concerned this was going to be a massive story and make the news cycle for the next couple of days — at least,” Hicks said on the witness stand earlier Friday, describing her reaction to learning of the tape.

    In her testimony, Hicks hurt Trump by showing how deeply he — and the campaign — worried about infidelity stories going public in the weeks before the election.

    Hicks became emotional as prosecutors wrapped up their direct examination of her.

    Her final answer helped bolster the district attorney’s case. She said Trump was happy that news of the hush-money arrangement with Daniels had become public in 2018.

    “I think it was Mr. Trump’s feeling that it was better to be dealing with it now,” she said, “rather than just before the election.”

    Hicks took the witness stand again after about a five-minute break, looking flushed but calmer.

    On cross, she helped the defense by distancing the campaign from Cohen and his hush-money machinations.

    “He was not looped in on the day-to-day” of the campaign, though he appeared to want to be, Hicks told jurors.

    “He went rogue at times it was fair to say?” Bove asked her.

    “Yes,” Hicks answered, smiling. “I used to say that he likes to call himself a fixer or Mr. Fixit. But it was only because he first broke it that he was Mr. Fixit.”

    Also during cross, Hicks described Trump as a loving husband who genuinely cared about protecting his family from stories of infidelity.

    “I don’t think he wanted anyone in his family to be hurt or embarrassed by anything that happened on the campaign,” she said.

    “He wanted them to be proud of him,” she added of “Mrs. Trump” and the rest of Trump’s family.

    Speaking to reporters in the hallway after the court day, Trump declined to answer Business Insider’s question about his reaction to Hicks’s testimony, saying he was bound by the gag order that New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan imposed, preventing him from talking about witnesses.

    He pivoted to attacking the Manhattan district attorney’s office, which he said has “absolutely ruined and destroyed” the lives of “a lot of great people.”

    “They’ve destroyed people’s lives. They’ve gone out, hired lawyers, they’ve been with lawyers for years. They suck dry,” he said. “And it’s a shame. It’s a shame what they’ve done.

    Hicks described the Trump campaign’s frenzied reactions to the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape

    Hicks was one of Trump’s most trusted advisors in his 2016 climb to the presidency. Federal prosecutors have previously said in court papers from the 2019 prosecution of Michael Cohen that she could directly tie Trump to the so-called “catch-and-kill” scheme.

    She formally joined the Trump Organization in October 2014 after working with the company with the public relations firm Hiltzik Strategies. As Trump began running for president, in 2015, she switched to a campaign role and traveled with him across the country, she testified.

    On October 7, 2016 — less than a month before the election — Hicks received an email from Washington Post reporter David Fareholdt, informing her he had obtained the video, sending a transcript of Trump’s remarks about grabbing women “by the pussy,” and requesting a response from Trump. She forwarded it to other campaign leaders: Jason Miller, David Bossie, Kellyanne Conway, and Steve Bannon.

    “Deny, deny, deny,” Hicks wrote in an email, suggesting one possible response.

    Hicks then went to the 25th floor of Trump Tower, she testified, where she said Trump was preparing for a presidential debate with Miller, Conway, Bannon, Jared Kushner, and Chris Christie.

    “We weren’t sure how to respond yet,” she testified Friday. “We were trying to obtain the information and were processing the shock internally.”

    Trump responded “that that didn’t sound like something he would say,” Hicks said.

    Hicks said she was “a little stunned” at the time and struggled to get her bearings.

    “I was definitely concerned this was going to be a massive story and make the news cycle for the next couple of days, at least,” she said.

    “There was consensus amongst us all that the tape was damaging,” she added. “This was a crisis.”

    donald trump hope hicks

    Donald Trump poses for members of the media with then-White House Communications Director Hope Hicks on her last day in the role.AP Photo/Andrew Harnik

    After a while, Trump presented a more dismissive attitude, Hicks said.

    “It was just two guys talking, locker room talk. It was something that we shouldn’t get too concerned over,” Hicks said, relaying Trump’s attitude. “He didn’t want to offend anybody but he felt it was pretty standard for two guys talking about somebody.”

    Hicks said media coverage of the “Access Hollywood” tape was so all-consuming that no one had paid attention to the Category 4 hurricane that was expected to hit the East Coast at the time.

    “It dominated media coverage,” she said. “I would say the 36 hours leading up to the debate.”

    Then came the Stormy

    The Trump campaign realized it had a potential problem with female voters in the wake of the tape’s release, Hicks said.

    Prosecutors suggested that dynamic colored the reaction to another inquiry from a journalist — Michael Rothfeld at The Wall Street Journal — on November 4, just four days before the 2016 election.

    The email came when Trump’s private jet had landed in Ohio for a “hanger rally” with the plane in the background. Rothfeld had asked about a secret $150,000 arrangement between American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, and Karen McDougal. In the agreement, AMI bought the exclusive rights to McDougal’s story about an affair the former Playboy bunny said she had with Trump in 2006, when he was married to Melania Trump — but never published any articles about it.

    Hicks had a phone call with Rothfeld, where he also mentioned Stormy Daniels, she testified.

    Hicks tried to control the story, reaching out to Jared Kushner, who she said was friendly with the Journal’s owner Rupert Murdoch.

    “He had a very good relationship with Rupert Murdoch and I wanted to see if we could buy a little extra time to deal with this,” she testified.

    Kushner said he “wasn’t going to be able to reach Rupert,” she said.

    Hicks also said she reached out to Michael Cohen, knowing he had a relationship with American Media Inc. owner David Pecker. And she reached out to Pecker’s office as well.

    Pecker “explained that Karen Macdougal was paid for magazine covers and fitness columns and it was all very legitimate,” Hicks said. “And that was what the contract was for.”

    After relaying that to Trump, Hicks said that Trump wanted to speak to Pecker himself and “have an understanding of what was going on.” On another phone call, with Trump, Pecker assured him the payment to McDougal was for fitness columns, Hicks testified.

    Trump then personally crafted a campaign statement denying the accusations from McDougal, and any knowledge of the deal.

    The published Journal article made mention of a possible affair and similar deal with Stormy Daniels, but focused on McDougal.

    When the Journal published another article, in 2018, focused on the $130,000 Daniels, Hicks was at that point the White House communications director.

    Trump told her that Cohen had paid the $130,000 in hush-money “out of the kindness of his own heart” to protect him.

    Hicks testified she found Trump’s explanation hard to believe.

    “I’d say that would be out of character for Michael,” she said, to laughter in the court’s overflow room. “I didn’t know Michael to be an especially charitable person. Or selfless person. He’s the kind of person who seeks credit.”

    Read the original article on Business Insider

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  • here’s what’s happened so far

    here’s what’s happened so far

    Donald Trump is the first former US president to face criminal charges. The 2024 Republican presumptive presidential nominee faces the threat of prison if he is convicted. The New York case alleges that Trump falsified the financial transaction behind the $130,000 hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump has pleaded not guilty.

    Here’s what you need to know about the case and what’s happening today:

    19 April at a glance: what’s going to happen?

    • Trump is set to appear in court for the fourth day of his hush-money trial on Friday, with 12 jurors and one alternate already selected and five more alternates to be chosen before jury selection wraps up.

    • The process has proved complicated because of the polarizing and high-profile defendant. Prospective juror had been grilled on their political leanings, their social media posts and many other facets of their lives.

    Trump hush-money trial status: Trump pleaded not guilty; trial began 15 April 2024.

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    Charges: 34 felony charges of falsifying business records.

    Hush-money case summary: The case involves a hush-money scheme during the 2016 presidential election. Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to the adult film star Stormy Daniels to quash her story about having an extramarital affair with the former president. Trump has denied the affair took place. Prosecutors accuse the former president of illegally reimbursing Cohen for the hush-money payment by falsely classifying the transaction, executed by the Trump Organization, as legal expenses.

    Verdict before election? Likely

    What has happened in the case so far

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  • Donald Trump’s criminal trial over hush money to begin in New York

    Donald Trump’s criminal trial over hush money to begin in New York

    Donald Trump’s criminal hush-money trial involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels and the Playboy model Karen McDougal is scheduled to start this morning, with jury selection in Manhattan supreme court.

    The proceedings mark a momentous day in US history, as Trump is the country’s first president – present or former – to face a criminal trial. They also play out against a presidential race in which Trump is the almost certain Republican nominee who regularly bests Joe Biden in head-to-head polls.

    Related: Who are the key players in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial?

    In room 1523 at the 100 Centre Street courthouse, where Trump will soon go on trial, journalists started taking their seats on wooden benches shortly after 8am. There are two large television screens where those in attendance will be able to watch video and listen to jury selection, which is in room 1530, just down the hall.

    Before prospective jurors are brought into the courtroom, it is likely that both sides will confer briefly over outstanding issues. Whenever that wraps, Trump is poised to start facing potential panelists, who will be screened for potential biases in a selection process that will easily take at least one week.

    The criminal case against Trump stems from an alleged scheme to cover up purported liaisons with Daniels and McDougal ahead of the 2016 general election.

    Prosecutors say that Trump, who was indicted in spring 2023 on 34 counts of falsifying business records, participated in an alleged “catch-and-kill scheme” from August 2015 until December 2017 through his then lawyer, Michael Cohen. They said that he did so out of concern that the alleged extramarital encounters with Daniels and McDougal could harm Trump’s candidacy.

    Cohen, who in 2018 pleaded guilty to federal charges for his involvement in that particular hush money scheme, wired $130,000 to Daniels’ then attorney only 12 days before the election. Cohen shuttled this money through a shell company, which he established and funded at a bank in Manhattan, prosecutors said.

    After Trump won the election, he paid Cohen back with a series of monthly checks. At first these checks came from the Donald J Trump Revocable Trust – which was set up in New York to hold the president’s namesake company’s assets during his presidency. Payments to Cohen later came from Trump’s bank account, prosecutors said.

    The Manhattan district attorney’s office said that Trump provided 11 checks under illicit pretenses – and signed nine of them. The Trump Organization, prosecutors said, processed these checks “disguised as a payment for legal services rendered pursuant to a non-existent retainer agreement”.

    By casting these payments as compensation for legal work, he “made and caused a false entry in the business records of an enterprise”, prosecutors said. Trump did so “with intent to defraud and intent to commit another crime and aid and conceal the commission thereof … ’

    With the scheme involving McDougal, the National Enquirer’s publisher, AMI, paid her $150,000. AMI reached out to Cohen after McDougal’s lawyer contacted the National Enquirer, in the hopes of selling her story about Trump. AMI brokered a deal with McDougal to purchase her “limited life rights” to her account of a relationship with “any married man”, according to a non-prosecution agreement between AMI and Manhattan federal prosecutors.

    Related: For all his bombast, Trump is plummeting – financially, legally and politically | Lloyd Green

    Trump, prosecutors said, told Cohen to repay AMI with cash. Cohen insisted that AMI be repaid via a shell company. In the end AMI, owned by Trump crony David Pecker – did not accept repayment after consulting with their counsel, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.

    In another concealment plot, Pecker came to learn that a former Trump Tower doorman was trying to sell information about a child Trump allegedly had out of wedlock. AMI paid him $30,000 for the story, prosecutors said.

    The story did not check out – AMI did not investigate before issuing the payment – but Cohen told Pecker not to release the doorman from the agreement until after the election. Pecker said yes, prosecutors said.

    Prosecutors said that the arrangement between Trump, Cohen and Pecker stemmed from a summer 2015 meeting at Trump tower some two months after the real estate mogul announced his candidacy. Pecker said he’d help with Trump’s run and promised to be his “eyes and ears” by keeping apprised of negative stories – and notifying Cohen before they surfaced.

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  • Judge releases jury questionnaire for Trump’s hush money trial

    Judge releases jury questionnaire for Trump’s hush money trial

    The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s hush money case in New York has approved a questionnaire for jury selection and instructions for prospective jurors in the trial, which is set to begin next week.

    In a letter Monday, state Judge Juan Merchan provided attorneys in the case with a jury questionnaire that consists of 42 numbered questions on a range of topics. The form does not ask about party affiliation, political contributions or voting history.

    Merchan pushed back against a contention by Trump’s attorneys that potential jurors’ political affiliations and whether they like Trump is important to jury selection, saying that “contrary to defense counsel’s arguments, the purpose of jury selection is not to determine whether a prospective juror likes or does not like one of the parties.”

    “Such questions are irrelevant because they do not go to the issue of the prospective juror’s qualifications,” Merchan wrote. “The ultimate issue is whether the prospective juror can ensure us that they will set aside any personal feelings or biases and render a decision that is based on the evidence and the law.”

    The form asks prospective jurors numerous questions, including:

    • Their neighborhoods, professions, employers (present and past), marital status, hobbies and interests, and relationships with others who have been victims of crimes or, alternatively, have worked in places like the FBI or prosecutors’ offices or in criminal law

    • Whether because “political, moral, intellectual, or religious beliefs or opinions” they would be unable to follow the judge’s instructions or render a verdict

    • Whether they’ve read any of either Mark Pomerantz’s or Michael Cohen’s books about the alleged crimes and/or the investigation that led to the hush money case and whether what they have read or heard via audiobook “affects your ability to be a fair or impartial juror in this case”

    • About their personal, familial or close friends’ ties to Trump or the Trump Organization before it addresses whether they have engaged in certain activities that would reflect political support for Trump or “any anti-Trump group or organization” and/or extremist movements

    • Whether they practice “a religion that would prevent you from sitting as a juror on any particular weekday or weeknight”; Merchan noted in his letter that if any observant Jews are selected as jurors, the court will not convene during Passover

    • What they read, watch and listen to in terms of media consumption, followed by a list of options to check, including The New York Times, the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, as well as CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and Newsmax and social media platforms like Facebook, X, TikTok and Truth Social.

    Merchan suggested in his letter that the question of political affiliation “may easily be gleaned from the responses to other questions” but warned the attorneys in the case “not to seek to expand the degree of intrusion beyond what is relevant and has already been approved.”

    Attorneys for Trump and the Manhattan district attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Monday evening.

    The dispute over political preferences has also been raised in Trump’s classified documents case in Florida, with his lawyers and prosecutors battling over disclosures about political affiliation in a questionnaire for prospective jurors there.

    Trump pleaded not guilty in Manhattan last year after he was indicted on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in connection with hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

    In addition to detailing the jury questions, Merchan also said Monday that prospective jurors will be informed before they enter the courtroom that they will be identified by the numbers printed on their jury summonses “as a necessary measure to ensure anonymity.”

    Merchan ruled last month that he will use an anonymous jury, effectively shielding jurors’ names from the media and the public, citing “a likelihood of bribery, jury tampering, or of physical injury or harassment of juror(s).”

    In Monday’s letter, Merchan said the court won’t conduct individual interviews with prospective jurors who say they’re unable to serve, saying the step is “unnecessary, time consuming, and of no benefit” to the case.

    The jury questionnaire and instructions come the same day a state appeals court judge rejected Trump’s effort to delay the trial, which is set to begin April 15 with jury selection.

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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  • N.Y. AG seeks more information about Trump bond, collateral

    N.Y. AG seeks more information about Trump bond, collateral

    WASHINGTON — New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a notice on Thursday seeking more information about former President Donald Trump’s bond for the civil fraud case, which was issued by Knight Specialty Insurance Company.

    KSIC is not admitted in New York, and James “takes exception to the sufficiency of the surety to the undertaking” given to Trump without a certificate of qualification being issued to the company, James said in the filing.

    James asks that Trump’s team or KSIC “file a motion to justify the surety bond,” or provide further information about collateral provided by the former president, within 10 days.

    Don Hankey, the chairman of KSIC, said the $175 million bond posted Monday was fully collateralized by cash from Trump’s company.

    Neither KSIC nor Trump’s lawyers immediately responded to NBC News’ request for comment on Thursday night. The New York attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment either.

    NBC News previously reported that Hankey had been negotiating to post a $557 million bond with the Trump Organization when a state appeals court ruled on March 25 that the bond would be reduced to $175 million.

    “He looks forward to vindicating his rights on appeal and overturning this unjust verdict,” said Trump’s attorney Alina Habba on Monday when the bond was posted.

    In February, Trump’s team appealed the $464 million civil fraud judgment against him and his company. He could be responsible for the entire amount issued by Judge Arthur Engoron’s order, which was entered in February, if his appeal fails.

    A bond hearing for the civil fraud trial is scheduled for April 22.

    This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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  • Judge Merchan slaps gag order on Trump ahead of hush money trial

    Judge Merchan slaps gag order on Trump ahead of hush money trial

    Judge Juan Merchan slaps a gag order on former President Donald Trump that prevents him from making public statements about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his hush-money criminal trial, which is set to begin on April 15. The gag order comes just hours after Trump attacked Merchan and his daughter in a social media post. Here are the latest legal developments involving the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024.

    New York hush money

    Judge hits Trump with gag order

    Key players: Judge Juan Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg

    • On Tuesday, Merchan sided with Bragg, issuing a gag order on Trump that is designed to prevent him from “making or directing others to make public statements” about witnesses in the hush money trial, court staff, prosecutors, jurors or their family members, the Associated Press reported.

    • Merchan limited the gag order to statements “made with the intent to materially interfere with, or to cause others to materially interfere with, counsel’s or staff’s work in this criminal case, or with the knowledge that such interference is likely to result.”

    • Hours before Merchan issued the gag order, Trump attacked him and his daughter in a social media post.

    • “Judge Juan Merchan, a very distinguished looking man, is nevertheless a true and certified Trump Hater who suffers from a very serious case of Trump Derangement Syndrome,” Trump wrote. “In other words, he hates me!”

    • Trump also wrote that “His daughter is a senior executive at a Super Liberal Democrat firm that works for Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, the Democrat National Committee, (Dem)Senate Majority PAC, and even Crooked Joe Biden.”

    • Merchan’s gag order, which comes one day after the judge set an April 15 start date for the hush money trial, does not prevent Trump from commenting on him or Bragg in general.

    Why it matters: Merchan will oversee the first-ever criminal trial of a former president of the United States. While Trump’s lawyers have successfully delayed the start of all of the four criminal trials in which he is charged with felony counts, the hush money case is the only one certain to be heard by a jury prior to the 2024 election.

    Recommended reading

    ___________________

    Monday, March 25

    ___________________

    A New York appeals court on Monday lowers the bond amount that former President Donald Trump must pay as he appeals the $464 million judgment in his civil fraud trial, saying he can put up just $175 million within 10 days. The 11th-hour deal temporarily prevents New York Attorney General Letitia James from moving to seize Trump’s assets. In Trump’s hush money trial, Judge Juan Merchan says jury selection can begin on April 15. Here are the latest legal developments involving the presumptive Republican presidential nominee for 2024.

    New York financial fraud

    Appeals court rules in favor of Trump hours before bond deadline

    Key players: Trump, New York Attorney General Letitia James, Judge Arthur Engoron

    • On Monday, a New York appeals court lowered the bond amount Trump and his co-defendants must pay in order to appeal Engoron’s $464 million judgment in his civil fraud trail to just $175 million, Semafor reported.

    • The appeals court also gave Trump 10 days to pay that sum.

    • Speaking to reporters outside a hearing in his criminal hush money case in Manhattan, Trump said he would do so “very quickly.”

    • “I greatly respect the decision of the appellate division,” he said. “And I’ll post either $175 million in cash or bonds or security or whatever is necessary very quickly within the 10 days.”

    • James had begun clearing the way to seize some of Trump’s assets in order to secure the full bond amount.

    Why it matters: Trump’s lawyers had argued that the original bond amount, which included interest, was excessive. They also told the court that 30 lenders had refused to give them a loan to cover the $464 million bond. This ruling buys Trump more time, and could keep James from freezing his bank accounts and seizing his assets.

    Hush money case

    Judge sets April 15 start date for Trump’s hush money trial

    Key players: Judge Juan Merchan, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, adult film actress Stormy Daniels, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen

    • With Trump looking on in court on Monday, Merchan ruled that the hush money trial could begin jury selection on April 15, the Daily Beast reported.

    • The trial had previously been scheduled to begin on March 25, but Merchan delayed it until April 15 after federal prosecutors submitted new evidence stemming from their investigation of Trump’s ties to Russia during the 2016 election.

    • Merchan ruled Monday that the newly disclosed documents did not have any bearing on the hush money case, which will decide whether Trump broke New York campaign finance and tax laws when he paid Daniels $130,000 in 2016 to hide an alleged extramarital affair.

    • Trump’s lawyers had sought to have the case dismissed or to have it postponed so that they could have more time to review the newly disclosed documents.

    • “The defendant has been given a reasonable amount of time to prepare,” Merchan said.

    Why it matters: Trump’s lawyers have skillfully delayed all of the criminal trials facing the former president. But Monday’s ruling could mean that that streak is coming to an end.

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