On April 15, the trial of former President Donald Trump in Manhattan Criminal Court began. The jury was tasked with deciding if Mr. Trump is guilty of paying hush money to porn stars during his 2016 election campaign. Presiding judge Juan Merchan formed a 12-member jury and initiated the impeachment process on April 22.
According to an indictment issued by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Mr. Trump is accused of spending $130,000 on Stormy Daniels and $30,000 on Dino Sajudin to cover up unfavorable information about his campaign. Another $150,000 was allegedly transferred to Karen McDougal for the same reason. The payments were made through Mr. Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, and were supported by David Pecker, the former president and CEO of American Media Inc. (AMI).
Pecker testified that he met with Trump and Cohen in 2015 to discuss handling negative stories in the media. AMI reportedly paid McDougal for her story about an alleged affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. Pecker’s testimony set the stage for Michael Cohen’s appearance in court, where he is expected to present potentially surprising evidence against Mr. Trump. He admitted to financial violations during the election campaign, claiming that Trump directed him to pay Daniels for her silence
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/3N5HK3VV6BFSFE72RCAQO5GYNA.jpg)
