The New York criminal charges against Donald Trump for calling payments to a lawyer legal expenses are serious in the eyes of a firm majority of U.S. voters, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found ahead of the former president's business records trial starting next week.
Legal experts have signaled the other three cases – which involve charges Trump sought to investigate election fraud or mishandled classified documents – are considerably more serious than the alleged hush money payments. New York prosecutors charge that Trump covered up his former lawyer Michael Cohen's $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in exchange for her silence before the 2016 presidential election about an alleged sexual encounter she said she had with Trump a decade earlier. Trump denies the encounter took place and has pleaded not guilty.
Trump has tried to delay all four trials. A New York state appellate judge Monday rejected his request to delay the hush money trial. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all four cases and argues they were orchestrated by his political enemies. Many Republicans share that view, with roughly four out of five in the poll agreeing with a statement that the prosecutions are "excessive and politically motivated."