Donald Trump's Criminal Trial on Hush Money Allegations Will Begin April 15
The trial comes following an investigation into an alleged hush money payment made to two women in order to hide extra-marital affairs with Trump
Donald Trump's hush money trial is set to begin in April, with a judge setting a start date of April 15 to begin jury selection.
The trial comes following an investigation into an alleged hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels while Trump, now 77, was a presidential candidate in 2016.
The trial was scheduled to begin March 25, but Trump requested a 90-day delay so that his legal team could review some 73,000 new pages of discovery provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg agreed to the delay to allow his own office to review additional documents it had received from the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Trump, who is running for president in 2024 and is now the presumptive GOP nominee, is mired in legal issues in the lead-up to the election. He currently faces 91 criminal counts stemming from four separate investigations, including the hush money case, which is set to be the first to go to trial.
In an indictment, prosecutors allege that Trump orchestrated a hush money scheme that lasted from August 2015 — two months after he formally announced his first run for the presidency — to December 2017, after he took office.
The indictment alleges that Trump asked his then-attorney to pay off women who were trying to sell stories about extra-marital affairs with him to the press. In doing so, prosecutors say Trump "violated election laws" and falsified business records.
As the indictment describes, Trump asked one of his former attorneys — widely assumed to be his Michael Cohen — covertly pay "$130,000 to an adult film actress shortly before the election to prevent her from publicizing a sexual encounter" with Trump.
The adult film star in question, while not named in the indictment, is widely assumed to be Daniels.
The indictment details another arrangement in which Trump allegedly worked with higher-ups at the National Enquirer to silence another woman, who is rumored to be former Playmate Karen McDougal.
Trump, his attorney, and the tabloid ultimately paid that woman $150,000 and gave her two magazine features—while Trump allegedly promised to reimburse the tabloid, the indictment claims. (Conversations about that scheme, the indictment details, were captured on audio recordings, in which Trump can allegedly be heard saying, "So what do we got to pay for this? One fifty?" before suggesting the woman be paid by cash.)
The indictment further alleges that Trump and Cohen ironed out the details of the scheme in the Oval Office at the White House, after he had been elected.
Related: Where Is Stormy Daniels Now? All About the Adult Movie Star's Life After She Sued Donald Trump
According to the indictment, after Cohen paid off the women, Trump paid Cohen back over time, with the lawyer submitting invoices for "services rendered" or labeled "retainer agreement" despite there being no retainer agreement in place.
Trump appeared in a Manhattan courtroom in April 2023 to plead not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree following the investigation.
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