what to remember from the first day of Donald Trump’s criminal trial, against the backdrop of the presidential campaign

The Republican candidate, accused of having disguised his company’s accounts to hide an affair in 2016, attacked the judge and Joe Biden, presenting himself as the victim of an “attack against a political opponent”.

The discussions have already taken a very political turn. A few months before the American presidential election, Donald Trump appears in an unprecedented trial, which opened Monday April 15 in New York. The billionaire is accused of having disguised the accounts of his real estate group to hide payments intended to silence, in the middle of the 2016 electoral campaign, a former porn star, Stormy Daniels, who says she had an extramarital affair with him .

The first former president of the United States to be criminally indicted by a grand jury, Donald Trump formally denies the accusations, and strives to present them as the result of a political conspiracy. Franceinfo looks back on the first day of the trial of the Republican presidential candidate, who risks up to four years in prison in this case.

Donald Trump reiterated his attacks against Joe Biden

The hearing had not yet started on Monday when Donald Trump attacked Joe Biden, his very likely opponent in the November presidential election. “The country is led by an incompetent man, who was enormously involved in this affair”, said the billionaire as soon as he arrived in Manhattan court, in front of the cameras of several American channels. For the accused, this procedure is “an attack on a political opponent” and an “attack on America”.

These comments are not new. Donald Trump has already claimed on several occasions to be the victim of political procedures, orchestrated according to him by the Democratic president. By repeating these accusations, he confirms that he intends to make his trial a platform for his campaign. “That I’m not in Georgia or Florida or North Carolina campaigning like I should be campaigning is perfect for radical left Democrats.”, assured the Republican on Monday, whose presence at the hearing is obligatory. “This is exactly what they want. This is election interference. That’s all.”

He also attacked the judge in charge of the case

The first morning of the hearing highlighted the defense’s desire to target the magistrate in charge of the case. As soon as the debates opened, Donald Trump’s lawyers asked Juan Merchan to recuse himself, highlighting the links of his daughter’s employer with the Democratic Party. The New York judge refused to dismiss the case.

Despite the media coverage of this procedure, Juan Merchan appeared determined to judge the former American president like any other person. “Hello Mr. Trump”he declared as he entered the room, instead of the traditional “Mr. President Trump”. The judge also recalled that, like any other defendant, Donald Trump must appear at the hearing every day, under penalty of being sought by the authorities, and that he could be sent to prison if he disrupted the hearing .

Warnings with little effect. The magistrate thus underlined the delay of the defense after a brief suspension of the hearing in the afternoon. “Please ensure that you respect the time allocated for breaks so that we can move forward”, he asked a lawyer for Donald Trump. At the end of the first day of the hearing, the billionaire directly attacked Juan Merchan: he declared that he “a real problem” with the magistrate, believing that he would not have “right to a fair trial”.

The prosecutor gave an overview of his strategy

The debates on Monday morning focused on the elements authorized or not to be used during the procedure. In this case, Donald Trump is charged with falsifying accounting documents for his company, the Trump Organization. These maneuvers were intended to hide, under the cover of “legal fees”, the payment of $130,000 to Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, then the billionaire’s lawyer. In exchange, the actress would have agreed to keep quiet about a sexual relationship that occurred in 2006 with Donald Trump. The Republican has always denied this relationship, and his defense ensures that the payments were in the private sphere. The prosecutor believes that this was an attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election by hiding information from voters.

The first debates gave an indication of the prosecution’s strategy: to present Donald Trump as a sexist man and aggressive towards women. The team of the prosecutor, Alvin Bragg, therefore requested that a video be broadcast during the hearing, widely relayed during the 2016 presidential campaign, where the billionaire can be heard boasting of“catch” the women “by the pussy”. Donald Trump apologized for making these remarks, recorded without his knowledge before filming for a television show in 2005.

The judge accepted that a transcription of the video be played at the hearing, but without projection of the images. Juan Merchan also refused the prosecutor’s request to discuss accusations of sexual assault against Donald Trump, which according to him constitute “simple reported words”.

The prosecution also demanded fines against the billionaire for “obstructing the proper course of justice”, reports the American channel PBS. She believes that he violated, on social networks, a court order prohibiting him from commenting publicly on the affair. The judge has scheduled a hearing on this matter, which will take place on April 23.

The long jury selection process has begun

After the procedural questions, a crucial phase of the trial opened: the designation of 12 jurors who will have to decide, unanimously, whether Donald Trump is “guilty” or “not guilty”. Their selection is a particularly difficult task, which could extend the duration of the procedure. A first group of 96 potential jurors was examined Monday afternoon. LTwo thirds were immediately exempted, the vast majority because they declared themselves incapable of being impartial in judging the ex-president.

The others, anonymous citizens including an oncology nurse, a bookseller and even a lawyer, had to reveal entire parts of their lives in court: their profession, their family situation, their sources of information or their hobbies. . The long questionnaire also asks them to express their sympathies or prejudices towards the accused. This decisive stage of the trial, during which both the prosecution and the defense can each challenge a certain number of jurors without having to provide justification, could continue until next week, or even beyond.

Joe Biden has not commented on the matter

Despite the accusations made against him by Donald Trump, Joe Biden refrained from making the slightest comment on the start of his opponent’s trial. “I am sure that [le président] will be kept informed at some point during the day [de l’avancée des débats]but for the moment he is focusing on the meetings on his program”declared White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked about this during a press briefing.

The Democrat was directly questioned on this subject during an interview with Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in the Oval Office. When a journalist asked him if he planned to watch the billionaire’s trial, Joe Biden simply shook his head in denial.