Donald Trump has been on trial in New York since mid-April 2024, where he is facing serious allegations. He is accused of charges such as paying hush money and falsifying business documents.
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According to news.de (a German publication), experts expect that this historic trial, which will go down in history as the first criminal trial against a former US president, could take up to eight weeks.
Trial against adult-film actress Stormy Daniels
At the center of the scandal is an allegation by adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. The woman claims she had a sexual fling with Donald Trump in 2006. Because of it, she is believed to have received 130,000 US dollars from him for keeping quiet about this affair, explains news.de.
While Trump denies the affair with Stormy Daniels, he confirms the payment. However, Trump is not being prosecuted for the payment itself, which would be considered legal, but for the way in which the payments were recorded and possibly concealed in order to cover up other legal violations.
Several years in prison threatened
If the former President is convicted, he could face several years in prison. The eyes of the nation and the world are thus focused on this unprecedented legal chapter, in which law, politics and the personal fate of a former head of state are inextricably intertwined.
A woman who was once very close to him has now been called as a witness in the trial against Trump: according to news.de, Hope Hicks worked as head of communications in the White House from 2017 to 2018, when Trump was President.
Her testimony in the hush-money trial apparently presented the PR expert with a major challenge.
Former confidante Hicks speaks openly
What Hicks reveals on the witness stand sheds an interesting light on Donald and Melania Trump's marriage. When the ex-president had an affair with Stormy Daniels - which he denies to this day - he had already been married to Melania for 13 years and their son Barron was twelve years old, according to news.de.
Hicks explains she has been personally instructed by Trump to keep any coverage of the sex scandal away from Melania - for example, by removing all newspapers from the White House so that Melania could not find out about her husband's escapades. She said:
He wanted me to make sure that the newspapers were [not] delivered to their residence that morning
This article was translated from Oh!mymag DE
Read more:
⋙ Donald Trump: Who is Margo Martin? The ex-president's comms chief labelled 'Melania lookalike'
⋙ Melania Trump will 'push' husband Donald to testify in Stormy Daniels affair, says former aide
Sources:
news.de: Ex-Vertraute packt aus: So verheimlichte er seine Sex-Eskapaden vor Melania
Frankfurter Rundschau: Prozess in New York: Trump wendet sich an Melania - Vertraute sagt aus
The Guardian: Hope Hicks tells hush-money jury of Trump’s control over 2016 campaign
