Trump faces criminal trial. First such experience for a former American president

Donald Trump, next week, will become the first former president of the United States to face criminal trial.

The case includes the bribe paid to the pornography star Stormy Daniels.

It also carries major political and legal consequences, as Trump will again compete for the first White House in elections to be held in November.

The trial is expected to begin in Manhattan on 15 April.

It is the first of four possible criminal trials facing Trump, but may be the only one to be held before the November 5th elections.

Trump, 77, was acquitted of 34 counts of counterfeiting business data in the case that District Attorney in Manhattan Alvin Bragg filed.

Trump is accused of setting up a $130,000 payment from his lawyer, Michael Cohen, for Stormy Daniels in the last days of the 2016 presidential campaign.

The payment is allegedly made to force Daniels to remain silent for a sexual encounter, which she has said had with Trump at a hotel in 2006.

Trump allegedly forged even data to cover it.

Denying any such encounter with the star of pornography, whose real name is Stephanie Cliff, Trump said the payment was made to stop its false “acles and extortioning”.

Trump also faces federal charges in Washington and on state charges in Georgia, for his efforts to overturn the outcome of the 2020 elections, which he won by the current president, Joe Biden, as well as federal charges in Florida, of illegal possession of classified documents after leaving office in 2021.

Trump was acquitted in each case, while the charges described him as politically motivated.

The charges in the case of the bribe on Daniels are not new news of her profits made headlines in 2018.

The US Department of Justice investigated the case earlier and Cohen was convicted in 2018 of violating the federal law of campaign financing, testifying Trump has orchestrated the payment for Daniels.

Federal prosecutors decided not to accuse Trump, ending their investigation in 2019.

But Bragg argued that the case concerns Trump's attempt to corrupt the 2016 elections, which he won against candidate Hillary Clinton, by buying the silence of people with potentially harmful information about him.

According to prosecutors, Cohen also organised a payment for the Playboy model Karen McDougal, which has said, also, that he had sex with Trump .

In New York City, forging business data to commit or hide another crime, it's a crime to punish up to four years in prison.

Following Bragg's indictment set up in April 2023, donations for the Trump campaign increased.

Contacted by the news agency, Reuters, his spokesman, Jason Miller, declined to comment on the trial.

Some political strategists predict that possible punishment could harm Trump in his presidential campaign.

Mary Anna Mancuso, a republican stratege that does not support Trump, says that if he is condemned, it will be a clear “reacity” that many voters will find difficult to ignore.

They will be forced to ask themselves such questions as: How can I vote for a person who may not be able to carry out the duties of a president?

Kyle Kondick, nonparty analyst at Virginia University's Policy Centre, says he is not sure whether the bribery trial would harm Trump, because many people, according to him, are used to it breaking rates.

We actually don't have any kind of precedent for this”, Condick says.

The sentence, according to him, would have an effect if the race were extremely narrow and a small number of votes would determine the winner.

In the November elections, Trump is expected to compete against Beden. / REL