Inside the Manhattan Courtroom at the Center of
American Politics
Protesters railed outside, media and security swarmed
the area, and inside the courtroom, Donald J. Trump appeared to nod off.
Jesse
McKinley
By Jesse
McKinley
April 15,
2024
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/15/nyregion/donald-trump-trial-courtroom.html
It was
about 2:30 on Monday afternoon when the first 96 potential jurors filed into a
drab courtroom in Lower Manhattan to encounter the world’s most famous
defendant: Donald J. Trump.
Some craned
their necks to catch a glimpse, an indication of the undeniable power of Mr.
Trump’s celebrity.
But not
long after, more than 50 of those same prospective jurors — drawn from one of
the nation’s most liberal counties — were dismissed because they said they
could not be impartial about the 45th president.
The
beginning of the first criminal trial of a former American president drew
intense security, loud demonstrations and smothering media coverage to a dingy
Lower Manhattan courthouse that will be the unlikely center of American
politics for the next six weeks.
Who Are Key
Players in the Trump Manhattan Criminal Trial?
The first
criminal trial of former President Donald J. Trump began Monday. Take a closer
look at central figures related to the case.
And if the
first day is any indication, the trial may well be a surreal experience,
juxtaposing the case’s mundane-sounding criminal charges — falsifying business
records — against the potentially seismic effect it could have on the
presidential race.
A historic
trial begins. Donald Trump, who faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business
records in the first degree to cover up a sex scandal, is on trial in
Manhattan. He is the first former U.S. president to be criminally prosecuted.
Here are answers to some key questions about the case:
What is
Trump accused of? The charges trace back to a $130,000 hush-money payment that
Trump’s fixer, Michael Cohen, made to the porn actress Stormy Daniels in 2016
to suppress her story of a sexual liaison with Trump in 2006. While serving as
president, Trump reimbursed Cohen, and how he did so constituted fraud,
prosecutors say.
Why did
prosecutors cite other hush-money payments? Although the charges relate to the
payment to Daniels, Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, is expected
to highlight two other hush-money deals. Prosecutors say that the deals show
that Trump had orchestrated a wide-ranging scheme to influence the 2016
presidential election.
Who will
the key witnesses be? Cohen is expected to be a crucial witness for
prosecutors. Bragg is also expected to call David Pecker, the former publisher
of The National Enquirer, as well as Hope Hicks, a former Trump aide, to shed
light on the tumultuous period surrounding the payments. Trump said he plans to
testify in his own defense.
Who is the
judge? Juan Merchan, the judge, is a veteran of the bench known as a
no-nonsense, drama-averse jurist. During the trial, Justice Merchan will be in
charge of keeping order in the courtroom and ruling on objections made by
prosecutors and Trump’s lawyers. The jury will decide whether Trump is guilty.
What
happens if Trump is convicted? The charges against Trump are all Class E
felonies, the least severe felony category in New York. If convicted, Trump
faces a prison sentence of four years or less, or he could receive probation.
How is The
New York Times covering the trial? The Times will provide comprehensive
coverage of the trial, which is set to last six to eight weeks. Expect live
updates from the courtroom in Manhattan, daily takeaways, explainers and
analysis from our reporting team.
On Monday,
both the dramatic and the mundane were on full display, as supporters of the
former president were making their voices heard, shouting through a bullhorn
that Mr. Trump “did nothing wrong” and attacking the family of the case’s
judge, Juan M. Merchan.
Despite the
highly charged atmosphere, Mr. Trump, seated in the 15th-floor courtroom, at
one point appeared to nod off.
The day’s
jury selection did not actually begin until midafternoon, but cable news was on
the air before dawn. Anti-Trump protesters were also up early, carrying an
array of hand-painted signs, some of which taunted the former president as a
“loser,” repurposing one of Mr. Trump’s favorite insults.
Others
stressed the frustration of liberals and Democrats who have wondered at Mr.
Trump’s ability to escape a trial up to now, despite facing four criminal
indictments.
“Convict
Trump Already,” one sign read.
Onlookers
descended from other cites and states, including Tim Smith, from Gettysburg,
Pa., who displayed his five-panel work “The Kraken,” about the Trump era
following the 2020 election. Another played the flute atop a park bench.
A truck
festooned with Trump flags drove past, as protesters and counterprotesters were
locked in a call-and-response in Collect Pond Park, opposite the courthouse,
with one side shouting “No one is above the law,” and the other shouting back
“Trump is innocent!”
TV crews,
which had arrived from around the world and across the city, took it all in.
The right-wing activist Laura Loomer, known for her provocative tactics,
derided “fake-news media freaks.” Andrew Giuliani, the son of Rudy Giuliani,
the former Trump lawyer and New York City mayor, then took the horn,
criticizing the case as weak and politically motivated.
“Joe Biden
would not even take this case,” Mr. Giuliani said.
For his
part, Mr. Trump seemed confident when he left Trump Tower on Monday morning,
waving to a group of fans and leaving in a motorcade that would snarl traffic
throughout Lower Manhattan. (And snarl it again, of course, when he left for
the day.)
Before
entering the courtroom, Mr. Trump delivered a condemnation of what he termed a
“political persecution,” calling it “an assault on America.” Once inside, Mr.
Trump glowered at prosecutors and appeared to chuckle when one of his own
social media posts was read aloud. In a dark blue suit and red tie, he looked
oddly out of place in a drab courtroom that, with its wood paneling and
fluorescent lights, is more “Fargo” than Mar-a-Lago.
Still, he
was engaged at first, chatting with lawyers, passing notes with his lead
attorney, Todd Blanche, and looking intently at Justice Merchan.
Then, he
closed his eyes, and appeared to briefly fall asleep, his chin toward his
chest. He did not react to notes from his lawyer before seeming to jolt awake.
Many of
Justice Merchan’s decisions on Monday displeased the former president,
including the judge’s delay in deciding whether Mr. Trump could miss a day in
court to go to his son Barron’s graduation in May.
Justice
Merchan also shot down a request that Mr. Trump be allowed to miss court to
attend next week’s Supreme Court arguments over his assertions of almost
complete immunity — a ruling that earned the former president’s ire.
“I can’t go
to my son’s graduation, or that I can’t go to the United States Supreme Court,”
Mr. Trump said, adding that he wouldn’t be able to campaign as regularly as he
would like because he would be in court. “This is about election interference.”
Jury
selection, which finally began after the judge and lawyers dealt with hours of
other issues, could last a week or more: Only 11 potential jurors were heard on
Monday, with the process scheduled to begin again on Tuesday morning.
Robert
Gerhorsan, a 69-year-old West Village resident, was dismissed by Justice
Merchan because Mr. Gerhorsan’s child’s wedding in Seattle in June could
conflict with the trial. But he said that the fact that Mr. Trump was facing a
jury, for better or worse, was evidence that the system works.
“No one’s
being treated special,” he said, adding that he loved “that no one is above the
law.”
For his
part, Mr. Trump sat through all seven hours on Monday — minus a lunch break and
however many seconds he might have slept through — with none of the outbursts
that have occurred during other trials he’s been involved in. And he stayed
until Justice Merchan adjourned for the day.
But as the
day ended, Mr. Trump blasted out a fund-raising pitch by email.
“I JUST
STORMED OUT OF BIDEN’S KANGAROO COURT!” it read, though Mr. Trump had not in
fact stormed out. “What I’ve been FORCED to endure would make any patriotic
American SICK.”
Olivia
Bensimon, Anusha Bayya and Kaja Andric contributed reporting.
Jesse
McKinley is a Times reporter covering upstate New York, courts and politics. More about Jesse McKinley
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