Trump trial: Prosecutors to question Trump in hush money case

Prosecutors in the New York criminal hush money case against Donald Trump filed a notice Wednesday outlining their plans to question the former president about his previous civil trials to undermine his credibility.

The so-called Sandoval notice by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg includes “facts” pertaining to the civil fraud trial against the Trump Organization brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), and the two “sexual abuse” defamation lawsuits brought against him by writer E. Jean Carroll.

“If the defendant chooses to testify, the People intend to inquire regarding the following,” Bragg’s office wrote in a filing dated March 10, which became public on Wednesday.

Bragg, an elected Democrat, has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records for what prosecutors say was the illegal concealment of payments to hide an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels. He began the list by noting Trump, on Feb. 16, was ordered to pay upwards of $354 million in a civil fraud case for “repeatedly and persistently falsifying business records” and “misstating the value of his assets for economic benefit.”

The defendant also “sexually abused E. Jean Carroll. Jury awarded the plaintiff $2,020,000 in compensatory and punitive damages on her sexual abuse claim,” Bragg’s office said, citing the May 9, 2023 judgment from Carroll’s first defamation case against Trump. The former president has repeatedly denied her allegation that he raped her in the mid-1990s, which has served as the basis for her two defamation lawsuits against him.

Trump, who has pleaded not guilty to all the charges in the hush money case, is currently under a gag order imposed by presiding Justice Juan Merchan, who is handling the trial at the New York County Criminal Court. The order keeps him from speaking negatively about witnesses, jurors, members of the prosecution, court staff, and family members of prosecutors and judges.

Bragg’s list cited the former president’s previous gag order violations from his past civil trials, including when Trump “testified untruthfully under oath when he claims that his public comments about a judge’s law clerk were instead about a witness.” The prosecution hopes the list will serve to impeach Trump’s credibility during the trial, as the former president has teased he may testify in his own defense at some point during the proceedings.

A series of other past cases were also noted, including the Democratic New York attorney general’s case against the Donald J. Trump Foundation and a lawsuit Trump filed against Hillary Clinton that ended with him being sanctioned and ordered to pay nearly $938,000 in legal fees. The Sandoval filing also cited a criminal fraud case against the Trump Corporation, which Merchan oversaw.

Conversely, Trump’s attorneys have given every indication that they aim to impeach the credibility of Michael Cohen, an ex-attorney and fixer to Trump who helped facilitate the hush money payment. While he has acknowledged reimbursing Cohen, Trump contends he didn’t know the details about what Cohen was doing.

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Jury selection is still underway in the case but could be wrapped up by the end of this week after the court managed to seat seven jurors by the end of the day on Tuesday. Five more are still needed, in addition to six alternates.

Merchan has said opening arguments could get underway Monday, depending on the schedule, and he has also set a hearing for April 23 over the prosecution’s request that Trump be held in contempt for violating his gag order in the current trial.