Trump trial opening statements to begin Monday as ex-president loses appeal to delay hush money case

Opening
statements
in
the
New
York
criminal
hush
money
trial
of
former
president

Donald
Trump
will
begin
Monday
morning,
a
judge
said.

“This
trial
is
starting,”
said
Manhattan
Supreme
Court
Judge
Juan
Merchan
on
Friday.

Merchan
set
that
schedule
after
a
full
panel
of
12

jurors
and
six
alternates
was
seated
for
the
historic
trial.

On
Friday
afternoon,
Trump’s
attorneys
asked
a
Manhattan
appeals
court
to
delay
the
trial
while
they
seek
to
move
the
case
to
a
new
venue.

They
argued
that
Trump
cannot
receive
a
fair
and
impartial
jury
in
New
York
City
—
even
though
a
jury
had
been
successfully
selected
that
same
day.

The
appeals
court
swiftly
denied
the
request.

Outside
the
courtroom,
Trump
—
who
says
the
six-week
trial
is
keeping
him
from
campaigning
against
President
Joe
Biden
—
complained
that
Merchan
is
moving
the
proceedings
along “as
fast
as
possible.”

The
judge
is
doing
so “for
his
reasons,
not
my
reasons,”
Trump
claimed,
calling
the
case
a “witch
hunt.”

The
completion
of
the
four-day
jury
selection
process
was
punctuated
by
a
shocking
scene
just
outside
the
courthouse,
where
a
man

set
himself
on
fire.

New
York
Police
Department
Chief
Jeffrey
Maddrey
in
a
press
briefing
Friday
afternoon
said
that
the
man
walked
into
a
park
across
from
the
building,
opened
a
bookbag
and
threw
out
pamphlets
espousing
an
array
of
conspiracies.
He
then
pulled
out
a
canister
apparently
containing
a
liquid
accelerant,
which
he
poured
on
himself
before
lighting
himself
on
fire.

The
man
is
in
critical
condition
at
a
nearby
hospital’s
burn
center,
authorities
said.

The
incident
occurred
as
the
trial
court
broke
for
lunch.
Trump
returned
to
the
courtroom
before
3:30
p.m.
ET.

Similar
to
the
previous
three
trial
days,
Friday’s
efforts
to
fill
the
jury
box
for
the
unprecedented
criminal
trial
was
not
always
straightforward.

Some
potential
jurors
were
dismissed
after
saying
they
could
not
be
impartial
in
the
case
involving
the
former
president.
At
least
three
people
said
they
were
suffering
from
anxiety
or “self-doubt”
at
the
prospect
of
having
to
serve
on
the
jury.

After
the
parties
returned
from
the
lunch
break,
Merchan
held
a

so-called
Sandoval
hearing,
which
is
aimed
to
inform
Trump
about
what
his
prosecutors
could
grill
him
on
if
he
decides
to
testify
under
oath.

Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg’s
office
said
that
if
Trump
takes
the
stand,
they
want
to
challenge
his
credibility
by
asking
him
about
his
various
other
legal
battles,
including
two
high-profile
civil
judgments
he
has
been
ordered
to
pay
in
New
York.

Trump
in
February
was
ordered
to
pay

$454
million
in
fines
and
interest
after
a
state
judge
found
him
liable
for
fraudulently
inflating
his
asset
values
to
boost
his
net
worth
and
obtain
financial
perks.

In
a
January
verdict
in
New
York
federal
civil
court,
Trump
was
ordered
to
pay
$83
million
to
writer

E.
Jean
Carroll
for
defaming
her
when
he
denied
her
claims
that
he
raped
her
in
the
dressing
room
of
a
Manhattan
department
store
in
the
mid-1990s.
A
separate
federal
jury
previously
found
Trump
liable
for
sexually
abusing
Carroll.

Trump
is
appealing
both
the
business
fraud
and
defamation
verdicts.
Merchan
said
he
will
determine
Monday
morning
whether
Bragg’s
intended
line
of
questioning
is
permissible.

Trump
has
said
that
he
would
testify
in
the
hush
money
trial.
He
is
not
required
to
do
so.

The
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee
has
fumed
that
the
trial
is
a “scam”
and
a “witch
hunt”
aimed
to
damage
his
electoral
chances
against
President

Joe
Biden.

Trump
is
charged
with
34
counts
of
falsifying
business
records
as
part
of
a
scheme
to
cover
up
a
hush
money
payment
to
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels,
who
says
she
had
sex
with
Trump
while
he
was
married
years
ago.

The
payment
from
Trump’s
then-lawyer
Michael
Cohen
was
aimed
to
influence
the
2016
presidential
election
by
burying
damaging
information
from
voters,
Bragg
alleges.
Trump
has
denied
having
sex
with
Daniels.