Former President Donald Trump arrives for a press conference at 40 Wall Street after a pre-trial hearing at Manhattan criminal court on March 25.Amid a fiercely competitive 2024 election rematch against incumbent President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump will become the first former president put on criminal trial.
Here, we will answer questions about the prosecution’s challenges and how the trial will work, and fact-check false and misleading statements Trump has made about the case.The Manhattan case may be the first to go to trial, but legal experts say it may be the hardest to prove.One is convincing a jury that the misdemeanor business falsification charges collectively advanced a separate crime, enabling Trump to be charged with a felony.
Sale said that even though the test is to put one’s beliefs aside “and only decide based on the facts and the law,” getting a fair jury will be a challenge for the defense.“Mr. Trump is not going to find 12 jurors in Manhattan to unanimously acquit him,” Galluzzo said. “However, he wins, as a practical matter, if he can convince one juror out of 12 to have reasonable doubt.”If that happens, the judge would declare a mistrial, and it’s highly likely that Election Day, Nov.
Duncan Levin, who worked in the district attorney’s office before Bragg and is now a defense attorney, agreed with Gillers. Gag orders “with very limited exceptions have long been found not to violate the First Amendment,” Levin said. Trump “is free to discuss the criminal justice system but not to make ad hominem attacks on particular people associated with the case,” Levin said.