Donald Trump Seems Well Aware He’s in Legal Peril
The fact pattern is damning in a criminal trial that will play out in New York, the city that gave rise to the former president’s family wealth, myths, business and political traction, and debauchery.
Trump is about to mark another first for a former US president.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Donald Trump enters a Manhattan courtroom today with a string of firsts in tow: He’s the first US president to be impeached twice; the first president to encourage a mob to storm the Capitol in an attempt to derail an election; the first former president to be indicted by state and federal grand juries on charges ranging from election interference to misappropriation of classified documents; the first former president to be found liable for sexual assault.
Today’s proceedings add to the list. Trump will also become the first former president to stand trial on criminal charges when jury selection begins in a fraud case centered on whether he doctored business records to mask hush money payments to two former lovers in order to keep his candidacy alive during the 2016 presidential election. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.