Landmark Trump hush money criminal trial starts in New York Monday

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

50% : The actual charges, however, revolve around the nitty gritty of finance laws.
47% : The expansion of the order came after Trump lashed out at Merchan and his daughter in a series of posts on Truth Social.
46% : A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023 over the payments made to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, with the ex-president charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records.
44% : Judge Juan Merchan will convene a pool of more than 100 ordinary citizens who must answer a questionnaire including checks on whether they have been members of far-right groups, like the Proud Boys, which led a mob of Trump supporters in the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol to stop certification of Biden's election.
38% : "In New York, where Trump has been a fixture for decades as an entrepreneur, celebrity playboy, politician and now criminal defendant, there is little sympathy.
37% : But the real prospect of Trump becoming a convicted felon -- and potentially facing jail time -- throws an astonishing wild card into an already unprecedented election in which the right-wing populist is running on dark vows of "vengeance" against Democratic President Joe Biden, who beat him in 2020.
35% : In the New York case, Trump has repeatedly failed to secure meaningful delays and Merchan has signaled he will run the trial with a firm hand.
35% : A New York grand jury indicted Trump in March 2023 over the payments made to Daniels (pictured), whose real name is Stephanie CliffordLast week the judge extended an existing gag order, in place to prevent Trump from attacking those involved in the trial, widening it to cover family members of the judge and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the lead prosecutor.
35% : Because Trump and his counsel have succeeded so far in kicking down the road the federal documents and election interference cases," said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias.
23% : Trump also claims that he will not get a fair trial in heavily Democratic New York.
22% : The so-called hush money affair is only one of the four criminal cases hanging over Trump and arguably the least serious.
17% : Trump is accused of illegally covering up remittances to his longtime attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, who was using the funds to pay Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about the alleged sexual encounter in the final weeks of the 2016 election campaign.
16% : Trump is accused of falsifying business records in a scheme to cover up an alleged sexual encounter with porn star Stormy Daniels so as not to doom his 2016 election.
15% : The so-called hush money affair is only one of the four criminal cases hanging over Trump and arguably the least seriousDonald Trump becomes the first US ex-president to go on criminal trial Monday -- pushing the nation's legal and electoral systems to the limit less than seven months before Americans decide whether to return the scandal-plagued Republican to the White House.

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