The first criminal trial against a former US president began last Monday. While jury selection is in full swing, Donald Trump is complaining that he is the victim of a 'political witch hunt'.
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It is the first of four trials
The so-called Stormy Daniels trial is about allegedly forged business documents that Trump and his team are said to have used to conceal hush money payments to porn actress Stromy Daniels. It is the first of four criminal trials against the former president. And this alone could earn him up to 20 years in prison. However, experts are more likely to assume that Trump will get off with a suspended sentence if he is actually found guilty.
Last Monday, April 15, 2024, the selection of the twelve jurors began. According to initial reports, this could still take a while. It is true that around half of the invited citizens had directly declared themselves 'not impartial' and were therefore excluded from the selection process. But there are still a lot of detailed questions that need to be asked of all potential jury members.
Donald Trump attempts to have the judge recuse himself
Donald Trump, meanwhile, indicated that he did not expect this trial to be truly fair - after all, the judge had rejected a motion by the defense asking him to recuse himself:
We will not get a fair trial. [...] We have a real problem with this judge.
In the past, the 77-year-old had already repeatedly insulted the American justice system as 'corrupt' and saw the various civil and criminal proceedings against him as a targeted campaign. In Trump's eyes, he was the victim of a 'political witch hunt' in which the Democrats made common cause with the judiciary and especially the presiding judges in order to prevent his re-election in November:
I'm not in Georgia or Florida or North Carolina to campaign like I should be.
The former president and his lawyers had also already complained in the civil court proceedings for fraud relating to his real estate that a disproportionately high penalty had been deliberately imposed in order to cause Trump lasting financial damage and prevent his re-election if possible.
This article has been translated from Oh!MyMag DE.
Read more:
⋙ Donald Trump: His properties' real value differs from his own estimate
⋙ Donald Trump: The former President broke gag order within 24 hours
Sources used:
Tagesspiegel: „Haben ein echtes Problem mit diesem Richter“: Jury-Auswahl in Schweigegeld-Prozess gegen Trump läuft schleppend an
Spiegel: Trump hat "echtes Problem" mit Richter im Strafprozess in New York
USA Today: Donald Trump loses Hail Mary call for judge's recusal ahead of New York hush money trial
BBC News: Trump trial jury selection complicated by opinionated New Yorkers
