Former US President Donald Trump faces trials in New York and Washington on Thursday in two separate cases stemming from his campaign to return to the Oval Office in November’s election.
The third day of testimony in a historic criminal trial is taking place in New York, the first against a US president. Tabloid publisher David Pecker is expected to take the stand again as prosecutors try to paint a picture of a coordinated effort to influence the 2016 presidential election through misconduct.
But Trump’s attention may lie elsewhere as the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether Trump can be prosecuted or claim immunity in a federal case related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Trump had asked for permission to skip the New York trial for a day to attend the Supreme Court session, but the request was denied.
“We have a big case today,” Trump told construction workers in Manhattan during a brief campaign break before trial that day. “The judge won’t allow me to go.”
In New York, Trump was charged with 34 counts of falsifying business documents related to payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
The forgery allegations involve Trump’s alleged mislabeling of repayments to his lawyer Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels $130,000 in exchange for her silence about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump. For a felony charge to stick, prosecutors must convince jurors that the misrepresentations were made with the intent to commit or cover up another crime.
In their opening arguments Monday, prosecutors focused primarily on what they said was an illegal attempt to “undermine the integrity” of the 2016 presidential election, in which Trump defeated former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo called the payments to Daniels “simple election fraud.”
On Monday, prosecutors called their first witness, Pecker, the former editor of the National Enquirer tabloid and a longtime friend of Trump’s.
They asked Pecker about a “catch and kill” agreement between Trump and the publisher. Under the agreement, the tabloid would buy potentially politically damaging stories about Trump and prevent them from being published.
Pecker recounted a meeting with Cohen and Trump in August 2015 in which he was asked to “support the campaign.”
He agreed to be the “eyes and ears” of the campaign, Pecker testified.
Pecker said he agreed to support Trump’s political ambitions both through the “catch and kill” program and by publishing positive stories about Trump and negative stories about his competitors.
He called the agreement “highly confidential.”
The defense argued that Trump did nothing illegal to justify the felony charges. It was emphasized that trapping and killing practices and hush money payments were not in themselves illegal.
His lawyers have so far portrayed Trump as a businessman and public figure who wants to protect himself and his family from public accusations.
Legal observers say it will be up to prosecutors to fully spell out the exact laws Trump intended to violate with the payments and provide the evidence needed to support that claim.
Among the stories purchased and suppressed by American Media, which owns the National Enquirer, were claims by model Karen McDougal that she had an affair with Trump. The company has confirmed that it paid McDougal $150,000 to acquire and finish the story. Trump has denied the affair.
American Media also paid a doorman at Trump Tower $30,000 for a story that claimed Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock.
On Tuesday, prosecutors also asked Judge Juan Merchan to punish Trump for violating a gag order that prohibits him from speaking publicly about potential witnesses in the case.
Trump’s lawyers said Trump was only responding to claims about him in the social media posts in question. Trump himself turned to Truth Social during a break in the trial to criticize the judge.
“Everyone is allowed to talk about me and lie, but I’m not allowed to defend myself?” Trump wrote.
Merchan has not yet made a decision on whether Trump’s posts actually violated the gag order.
Supreme Court Arguments
The New York case is one of four criminal cases filed against Trump and the only one expected to conclude before the presidential election, in which Trump will face President Joe Biden in a rematch of his 2020 race.
In Washington, DC, Trump is facing federal indictment on allegations that he conspired in his final days in office to overturn the 2020 election results.
The Supreme Court will decide whether and to what extent a former president enjoys immunity from criminal prosecution for alleged official acts while in office.
The decision will have a major impact on the future course of the federal case, but is unlikely to have any impact on the New York case.
In Georgia, Trump is facing charges in connection with an alleged campaign to pressure election officials to change the state’s vote count in the 2020 presidential election.
He faces a separate federal criminal case in Florida related to classified documents he allegedly removed from the White House.