Topline

Former President Donald Trump is set to go on trial next week for felony charges related to a $130,000 payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during his 2016 campaign. While the “hush money” payment is at the center of the allegations, the focus of the legal scrutiny is not on the act of paying Daniels to keep quiet.

Trump’s indictment stems from the payment made by his ex-attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels in October 2016 to cover up her allegations of an affair with Trump in 2006. Trump then allegedly reimbursed Cohen $420,000, including the payment to Daniels, through the Trump Organization, falsely labeling them as legal payments.

Although hush money agreements are not inherently illegal, they can become illegal if used to cover up a crime or if not entered into consensually. In Trump’s case, he is facing 34 counts of falsifying business records for allegedly disguising his reimbursement payments to Cohen as legal payments.

The trial is expected to last approximately six weeks, with each felony count carrying a potential sentence of up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine. While Trump has pleaded not guilty and denounced the case as a “witch hunt,” prosecutors argue that the payments were made to facilitate other crimes, including campaign finance violations and alleged tax issues.

The trial will shed light on the complex web of financial transactions and alleged cover-ups surrounding the hush money scandal, with key witnesses like Stormy Daniels, Michael Cohen, and others expected to testify. Trump’s trial marks the first of four criminal cases he faces, with the outcome likely to have significant implications for his future legal battles.