Trump claims ‘political persecution’ as jury selection starts in Stormy Daniels hush money trial

Donald Trump has kicked off his historic first criminal trial by trying unsuccessfully to remove the presiding judge and fighting fresh claims that he violated a gag order by referring to key witnesses as “sleaze bags”.

Trump, meanwhile, insists he is innocent, and told reporters before entering court that the trial against him was an “assault on America”. After Trump became president, he reimbursed Cohen through his company, but allegedly disguised the payment as a legal retainer, thereby breaching campaign finance laws.Trump now faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to suppress the sex scandal - a felony that comes with a maximum penalty of four years jail for every charge. However, it is not expected that he would face such a sentence even if he were to be convicted, given he does not have a criminal history.

Merchan will rule on that request next week, but spent the morning making a series of other rulings about what evidence could be brought into the case. This included rejecting a request by prosecutors to play the infamousHe also refused a request to include other allegations of sexual assault against Trump that have been raised over the years, describing them as hearsay.

Among the crowd was Joel Anderson, a serving police officer from Washington State, holding a sign that said: “Trump’s lies got cops killed on Jan 6.” Asked if he thought the hush money payment made to Daniels was false, Cini replied: “I don’t know - I mean, I’ve been to Thailand a few times and I’ve got skeletons in my closet too,” - an apparent reference to the country’s seedy underbelly of go-go bars and prostitution.

Source: Law Daily Report (lawdailyreport.net)

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