Oral arguments commenced on Monday in a trial that set the precedent by naming Donald Trump as the first former US president ever to face criminal charges. Trump, unperturbed, decided to address the media ahead of the opening statements and expressed his defiance by posting on his media platform, Truth Social.
He stated, “These are all Biden trials. This is done as election interference. Everybody knows it. I’m here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania and Georgia and lots of other places campaigning, and it’s very unfair. Fortunately, the poll numbers are very good; they’ve been going up because people understand what’s going on. This is a witch hunt, and it’s a shame, and it comes out of Washington. It’s in coordination with Washington, everything, including the DA’s office. It’s in coordination with Washington. I just want people to understand that this is done for purposes of hurting the opponent of the worst president in the history of our country.”
Trump stands accused of falsifying business records with the intent to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election’s results. The trial mainly focuses on 34 counts of business record falsification in the first degree, a felony allegation.
Prosecutors allege that Trump paid hush money to numerous individuals: Dino Sajudin, a Trump Tower doorman, supposedly received $30,000 to conceal details of a child born out of wedlock; Playboy model Karen McDougal purportedly got paid $150,000 to keep an alleged romantic affair under wraps, and adult film actress Stormy Daniels (Stephanie Clifford) reportedly received $130,000, also said to cover up an affair.