Day 1 of Trump New York hush money trial

So far, Judge Juan Merchan has questioned four members of the jury pool using the questionnaire.

Of the four, one was dismissed by the judge. Here’s a look at the other three:

All three listed The New York Times and CNN as their news sources. Two listed The Wall Street Journal and Google.

They all said they would not base their decision on bias or prejudice. They also did not have any political, intellectual or religious beliefs that would interfere with their ability to enter a verdict. None of them had read books written by Michael Cohen or Donald Trump.

The city employee said she followed Trump on social media but none of the prospective jurors said they worked or volunteered for any pro-Trump or anti-Trump groups, or belonged to any of the fringe organizations listed in the jury questionnaire.

The court is still on a break, and additional jurors will be questioned when the recess is over.

Court is taking a quick break. Donald Trump didn’t say anything as he left the courtroom.

Former President Donald Trump appears in court Monday at the start of his criminal trial.

Donald Trump urged the Supreme Court on Monday to reject special counsel Jack Smith’s argument that the former president’s post-2020 election actions should be considered by a jury even if the court finds Trump is entitled to some degree of immunity.

What Smith said: Smith claimed in his own brief last week that Trump’s trial should proceed even if the court finds the former president is entitled to some degree of immunity. That’s because, Smith said, at least some of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election were private conduct, removed from his “official acts” as president that might be entitled to immunity.

What Trump’s team argues: Trump blasted Smith’s argument Monday, saying it would force courts to try to assess the motive of a former president. “This argument contradicts this court’s precedents,” Trump’s attorneys wrote. “Immunity does not turn on ‘the motivation for actual performance of [official] acts.’”

The case: The former president is hoping to delay a trial on federal charges that he attempted to subvert the results of the 2020 election. It is one of four criminal cases Trump faces.

More context: Trump’s latest brief was the final written argument expected to land before the justices hear oral arguments next week on whether Trump may claim immunity from Smith’s criminal charges in what has emerged as one of the high court’s most significant cases of the year.

A potential juror who was excused from the group was heard in the hallway saying, “I just couldn’t do it” while leaving the courtroom, according to pool reports.

The juror was replaced.

They are now back to questioning.

The third prospective juror answered “yes” when she was asked, “Do you have firmly held beliefs about Trump, or that he’s a current candidate, that would interfere in your ability to be fair?”

Lawyers had a sidebar at the bench after she answered. Afterward, the judge announced the potential juror would be excused.

Trump remained seated during the sidebar.

Donald Trump’s team was expecting around 40% of jurors to be dismissed on the question of whether they can be impartial, sources told CNN’s Paula Reid, but more than half of the first group of 96 prospective jurors were reportedly excused after that question was asked.

Trump’s lawyers fought to have this question separated, Reid reported. They did not want to have all the potential jurors who can’t serve to be lumped in as one so they could establish how many people cannot be impartial.

Voir dire has begun, according to pool reports, and a young woman has started answering the jury questionnaire.

Donald Trump is reading along with her as she answers, with his own copy.

The judge last week released the questionnaire that will be presented to potential jurors. It includes questions about a potential juror’s news consumption and whether they’ve read any of Trump’s books.

Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers in New York, in March.

Judge Juan Merchan is now moving on to juror questions.

The judge last week released the questionnaire that will be presented to potential jurors, which contains multiple questions that could signal political views to the lawyers on both sides.

Here’s what potential jurors could be asked about:

At least nine more prospective jurors were excused in the first group after raising their hand when Judge Merchan asked if they could not serve for any other reason.

Those reasons were not disclosed.

That leaves approximately 34 jurors out of the 96 who entered court in the initial panel.

A group of 18 potential jurors have been called into the jury box.

More than half of the prospective jurors in the first batch of 96 people have been excused after saying that they couldn’t be fair and impartial. The press pool estimates at least 50 people were let go for that reason. 

Judge Juan Merchan asked potential jurors to raise their hands if they believed they cannot be fair and impartial. He then began excusing those jurors one by one.

Judge Juan Merchan has moved on to his second question for potential jurors.

He asked the jury pool, “Please raise your hand if you’re unable to serve on this jury for any other reason.”

“If you have an honest, legitimate, good-faith reason to believe you cannot serve on this case or cannot be fair and impartial, please let me know now,” Judge Juan Merchan told the prospective jurors.

Judge Juan Merchan just read off the names of more than 40 people who could be involved in the trial. The list included:

The judge noted that not all of them will be witnesses but their names could be raised at trial.

Prospective jurors occupy every available seat in the courtroom gallery and the jury box.

Many sit attentively as Judge Juan Merchan informs them of the basics of the case and runs through standard instructions that he said would take about 30 minutes.

It’s a diverse cross-section of Manhattanites. The first panel consists of 96 people. Merchan said a total of about 200 jurors are in the courthouse for possible selection to the Trump case.

More than a dozen court officers stand sentry along the wood-paneled courtroom walls and in the aisle between the rows of wooden gallery benches where jurors sit. One man in the jury box gazed back toward the gallery, studying the prosecution’s support team, which includes a desk with several computers a few feet from the jury box.

As the judge is reading instructions to the potential jurors, Donald Trump is sitting back in his chair with his arms folded across his body.

A view of Judge Juan Manuel Merchan's courtroom at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on March 12.

The jury selection process for the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump will be tedious and the questionnaire involved is a key tool in weeding out potential bias, CNN legal analysts said.

“A lot of it is very typical in terms of where you’re from, etcetera, but not questions about who you voted for,” CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates said.

Attorneys do want to know the jurors’ views on the case and also their media sources, she noted —which could be pretty reflective of who they are, their beliefs are on a particular issue and also their political activity, “whether you or someone in your actual circle, not just you alone, has attended a rally either for Trump or anti-Trump.”

Potential jurors can be removed based on strikes and challenges to answers to the lengthy questionnaire. Also each party involved in the case will have the opportunity to dismiss 10 jurors based on a peremptory challenge — meaning they can remove a juror without any reason or explanation, Elie Honig, former assistant US attorney for the Southern District of New York, explained to CNN.

Judge Juan Merchan told the jury pool they alone are the judges of facts in this case.

He went on to explain that the burden of proof lies with the prosecution and that Trump is not required to prove anything.

Donald Trump stood and turned around when he was introduced as the defendant, giving the prospective jurors a tight-lipped smirk, according to pool reports.

Many prospective panelists who just filed into Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom, and sat in the back rows, stretched their necks and lifted their heads to get a look at Donald Trump once in their seats.

One woman in the second row from the back giggled and put her hand over her mouth, looking at the person seated next to her with raised eyebrows.

There was no discernible reaction from potential jurors when Merchan said the name of the case, the People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump.

Several of the potential jurors seated in the jury box also appeared to frequently stare at Trump while the judge introduced the case.

Judge Juan Merchan told the group of potential jurors: “The name of this case is the People of the State of New York v. Donald Trump.”

He went on to explain the case: “The allegations are in substance: that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 15.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial unfolding in New York Monday, citing the ongoing nature of the trial and Trump’s position as the presumptive GOP nominee for president.

In contrast, Jean-Pierre said President Joe Biden would focus instead on his responsibilities as president.

Remember: CNN has reported earlier that Biden and his campaign were not planning to weigh in on Trump’s trial today, keeping to their normal stay-quiet strategy on Trump’s legal cases.

Biden is not expected to use his predecessor’s historic criminal trial in his arguments against him, officials said, and the campaign also is not planning to use Trump’s legal woes as a fundraising tool for their own supporters.

A group of potential jurors are being sworn in right now.

The judge has introduced himself to the jury and informed them some of them will be selected and he will explain what the trial is and what his role will be and what their role will be. He thanked the jurors from participating, telling them trial by jury is a “cornerstone” of our judicial system.

The first set of potential jurors, consisting of 96 New Yorkers from Manhattan, are entering the courtroom. 

They have not yet been sworn in.

Judge Juan Merchan has rescheduled the April 24 hearing on social media posts that prosecutors allege violate the gag order against former President Trump.

The hearing will now take place on Tuesday, April 23rd, at 9:30 a.m. ET.

There will not be court on Wednesday, as per the trial schedule previously laid out. 

Lawyers on both sides will gain valuable information about potential jurors based on their answers to a list of questions, but that’s not the only thing they will be assessing in the courtroom, a CNN legal analyst says.

This could include everything from how they dress to their mannerisms, he added.

Honig said the lawyers also have the names of all of the potential jurors and they are allowed to search them on social media.

“Think about how revealing someone’s Facebook page or Instagram page can be about them,” he said. “So I guarantee they are going through those now.”

Judge Juan Merchan said there are 96 jurors ready to be brought into the courtroom.

There are 200 jurors total in the courthouse, he noted.

Donald Trump and his attorney Todd Blanche are chatting while we wait for the potential jurors to enter.

Trump is gesturing with his hands and several times has used a finger to make a pointing motion.

Ahead of the start of the first criminal trial of a former president this morning, a couple of dozen emails were generated indicating that bombs had been placed in the area around the Manhattan courthouse, a law enforcement source told CNN.

The threats were unfounded and ruled to be a “swatting” incident, the source said.

Investigators are trying to determine whether the emails originated from a foreign email address. 

What is swatting? Swatting is a dangerous criminal hoax in which a false report is made to police with the express purpose of luring them to a location, where they are led to believe a horrific crime such as a mass shooting or an imminent bombing has been committed or is in progress.

The jury of 12, along with six alternates, will be chosen from hundreds of New Yorkers after an exhaustive jury selection process that could stretch beyond the first week of the trial.

Court officials expect about 500 new jurors to appear each day beginning Monday to be available for the selection process. About 100 prospective jurors at a time will be brought into Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom to be vetted.

The judge released the questionnaire that will be presented to potential jurors, which contains multiple questions that could signal political views to the lawyers on both sides.

Here’s what potential jurors could be asked about:

Why does this matter: The questions will be used for the judge to strike jurors at the outset, if they don’t believe they can render a verdict fairly. They will also be used by lawyers for both sides to strike jurors for any reason — a key part of the jury selection process.

As we wait for the jurors, Trump is in discussion with his lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove.

Judge Juan Merchan asked the attorneys not to encourage jurors to seek out private conservations with the parties.

Judge Juan Merchan said they will have a Sandoval hearing tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. ET.

About a Sandoval hearing: During a Sandoval hearing, a judge is asked whether previous bad acts can be brought up and the judge is expected to weigh the probative value versus prejudicial effect of doing so, according to CNN legal analyst Karen Friedman Agnifilo.

The identities of the jurors will remain anonymous, but will be known to the attorneys on both sides.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche asked Judge Juan Merchan how attorneys will get the names of the jury pool. Merchan said he will give them copies of jury lists with just numbers and a single copy with names and numbers. He told the lawyers the jurors are not to be photographed.

“We’re all working this out” and “figuring this out as we go,” the judge said.

The judge is giving Donald Trump’s lawyers 24 hours to identify what exhibits they intend to use at the trial, after prosecutors allege the defense has stalled in providing prosecutors with the documents they want to use in their case.

Trump just tapped his attorney Todd Blanche on the shoulder, leaned toward him and they are actively talking

Judge Juan Merchan said he will hold a hearing on the district attorney’s motion to sanction Donald Trump for his social media posts, according to pool reports.

The hearing will be next week, on April 24 at 2:15 p.m. ET.

Trump’s lawyers have until Friday to file their written response. Prosecutor Christopher Conroy asked that a copy of the order be served on Trump. Papers were then handed to Trump and Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche at the defense table.

The historic trial of former President Donald Trump is expected to include a lot of objections and sidebars, sources told CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid.

Sidebar conversations are usually issues that attorneys want to resolve outside the presence of the jury or potential jurors, Reid explained. They are usually sensitive issues that could be related to evidence being brought up.

In this case, the defense are using sidebars because they are focused on preserving every issue for appeal, according to Reid.

Judge Juan Merchan said he has changed his mind on how they will question individual jurors.

The judge said if they are going to speak to an individual juror, they will clear the courtroom of all the other jurors and send them back to the general room.

The judge said he’s doing this so the juror does not feel intimidated speaking in front of a full courtroom. The juror would then answer questions from the podium with the judge, attorneys, Trump and some members of the press in the room.

Trump’s attorney, however, is pushing back. The judge said the side room is designed to hold 12 people “and we are well over that number.”

The judge allowed the parties to begin a discussion about Trump’s other previous negative actions, but said that once the jury panel of 96 is ready, he wants to get them in. 

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench after roughly an hour long lunch break, and Donald Trump’s first criminal trial has resumed. 

Former President Donald Trump gave a thumbs up before he reentered the courtroom for his criminal hush money trial.

Michael Cohen leaves for a break during the civil business fraud trial of former President Donald Trump at New York Supreme Court in October 2023.

Prosecutors’ theory of the case is that Donald Trump falsified business records to cover up hush money payments that were made to prevent adult film star Stormy Daniel’s claim she had an affair with Trump from becoming public before the 2016 presidential election. 

These are the high-profile witnesses who are expected to be called by prosecutors, according to people familiar with the hush money case. Each of the witnesses played a role during a key period at the center of the prosecution’s theory.  

Other witnesses will include bankers and Trump Organization officials who handled the payments, lawyers involved in the transaction, as well as other people who worked on Trump’s campaign, the sources said. 

Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Monday.

Donald Trump’s decision to attend sidebars with the judge and attorneys as jury selection in the hush money trial against him gets underway suggests the former president is very involved in his defense, CNN correspondents say.

Attorney Todd Blanche said earlier that Trump wants to attend every conference, including side conferences during jury selection.

That means Trump will be “eye-to-eye with these potential jurors, in close proximity, as they answer questions,” many of them about the former president that could signal their political views, CNN correspondent Kara Scannell said.

Trump’s involvement has been a focal point of his legal strategy not just in this courtroom, but in the months leading up to the trial when his lawyers worked to delay the proceedings, CNN correspondent Phil Mattingly added.

In this court sketch, former US President Donald Trump enters the courtroom with his attorney Todd Blanche at the beginning of Monday's trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York.

The historic criminal trial against former President Donald Trump is underway in New York. Ahead of jury selection, the judge said what evidence will be allowed — and what will not — during the trial.

Trump, who is in the courtroom, is on trial in Manhattan for his alleged role in a hush money scheme to silence his alleged mistresses before the 2016 election. No former US president has ever faced criminal prosecution. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has denied the affairs.

Here’s what has happened in court so far: 

 Evidence that will be allowed: 

What will not be allowed: 

What comes next: Jury selection is expected to begin soon and will continue until a panel of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates are seated. Prospective jurors will be vetted through a questionnaire that could signal political views. They will be asked a wide range of questions, including where in the city they live, where they get their news, whether they’ve ever attended a rally for the former president and whether they have had any affiliation with groups such as the Proud Boys or the QAnon movement. Read more about the process here.

One of the biggest takeaways from today’s legal proceedings so far is that former President Donald Trump “had to sit and listen to prosecutors essentially turn his own words into weapons against him,” New York Times reporter and CNN political analyst Maggie Haberman said.

Haberman, who was in the courtroom, pointed to prosecutors bringing up Trump’s social media posts against Michael Cohen from his time in the White House and the Access Hollywood tape.

Earlier today, Judge Juan Merchan reiterated his past ruling preventing prosecutors from playing Trump’s Access Hollywood tape to the jury. But he clarified that the prosecutors could introduce the exact words that Trump said and an email related to the tape, as long as jurors do not hear the recording itself.

##Analysis#

Michael Cohen leaves the courtroom after testifying in the civil business fraud trail of former President Donald Trump in New York in October 2023.

Judge Juan Merchan held to his previous ruling on what prosecutors will be allowed to introduce about Michael Cohen’s 2018 guilty plea to campaign finance violations. 

It’s a key question because Cohen’s credibility is going to be one of the biggest issues for the jury in this case. Trump’s attorneys are planning to try to discredit Cohen, who is a central witness for the prosecution. And prosecutors want to include tweets Trump sent about Cohen from 2018. Those tweets include those supporting Cohen and then criticizing him after he flipped.

The judge is nuanced because he did not rule that the tweets could be introduced in the prosecution’s direct case, but said it was an “academic” argument because Cohen’s credibility would be raised during the defense cross-examination. Merchan reminded the prosecution that they cannot tie Cohen’s guilty plea to Trump. But he will allow testimony of Cohen’s guilty plea with the proper foundation.

Merchan says he can still revisit the prior ruling, but he doesn’t know what’s going to happen at trial. “I think this portion of the roadmap is pretty clear” about what the prosecution can and cannot do. Merchan says he does not want a jury to think that because Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations that, therefore, Trump is guilty of that, and he says the prosecution has said they are not going to argue that.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass had asked the judge to clarify that they can discuss Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations, arguing that it shows why Cohen “changed his tune.”  Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued that the former president’s attorneys don’t intend to bring up Cohen’s guilty plea on campaign finance violations, but Merchan is skeptical about raising some of Cohen’s crimes but not others. He says that can happen, but typically it involves different crimes on different days, which is not the case here.

Blanche responded that Trump “is not charged” with any campaign finance crimes, saying the robbery conspiracy example is not applicable here.

On the first morning of his trial, Donald Trump has spoken just three barely audible words into the record.

He said “Yes” three times as he was read his so-called “Parker warnings,” which advise defendants that they are entitled to assist in their defense by being present in court, but can lose that privilege if they voluntarily absent themselves from the trial or they are removed from court for reasons of misconduct. 

Court will be on a lunch break until 1:30 p.m. ET.

Former President Donald Trump appears in court with his attorneys Todd Blanche, left, and Emil Bove on April 15.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche argued in court that the three Donald Trump social media posts that prosecutors are pointing to do not violate the gag order.

While the prosecutor was reading the posts, Trump could be seen leaning forward with his elbows resting on the defense table.

Blanche said the witnesses frequently make statements about Trump. “It’s not as if President Trump is going off and targeting individuals. He’s responding to salacious repeated .. attacks by these witnesses,” the attorney argued.

The judge is yet to rule on the matter.

“We think that it is important for the court to remind Mr. Trump that he is a criminal defendant. And like all criminal defendants he’s subject to court supervision,” Prosecutor Chris Conroy says.

Here’s what evidence is allowed:

National Enquirer stories attacking Trump’s opponents will be allowed: Merchan will allow a series of stories from National Enquirer that attacked Trump’s opponents during the 2016 election cycle to be used as evidence. He noted that the district attorney’s office has demonstrated there was an understanding that certain things would be done and wouldn’t be done at AMI, which owned the National Enquirer. The National Enquirer stories were the result of an August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower among David Pecker, Michael Cohen and Trump where they devised the “catch and kill” plan to help Trump.

Prosecutors are introducing a motion to sanction Donald Trump for his social media posts they allege violate the judge’s gag order.

Prosecutor Chris Conroy told the judge they are seeking permission to hold Trump in contempt for violating the gag order and sanction Trump $1,000 for each of the three posts that violate the order.

Conroy also said that prosecutors want the judge to take down the three posts and to remind the defendant that “further violations could result in jail time.”

They also note they want to include his post from this morning, too.

He said it was posted at 9:12 a.m. this morning and it is “entirely possible that it was done while in this courthouse.”

Here’s what evidence is NOT allowed:

The judge is now reading Donald Trump’s rights during trial to him. Trump says he understands.

Attorney Todd Blanche says that Trump wants to attend every conference, including side conferences during jury selection.

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump’s hush money is underway, but sketch artists are capturing the scenes.

Former President Donald Trump sits with his attorneys as Judge Juan Merchan oversees the proceedings at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on Monday, April 15.

Trump sits with his attorney Todd Blanche at the beginning of his trial on Monday.

Justice Juan Merchan presides over Monday's trial.

Judge Juan Merchan is now going through courtroom rules, like noting that the defendant should remain seated while the sworn jury enters and leaves the courtroom, and that lawyers should not directly approach witnesses on the stand.

The courtroom rules also include that if defendant does not testify, the defense counsel cannot attempt to explain what he would have said or the reasons he did not testify.

Judge Juan Merchan is now discussing the time limits lawyers will have to question potential jurors.

The judge said that, normally, he gives lawyers 15 minutes for the first round of questions and then 10 minutes for subsequent rounds — but he noted this is not a normal case and asked what the lawyers want.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche said 30 minutes for first round and 20 minutes for subsequent rounds, and the DA’s office said they agree. Merchan agreed, too.

Judge Juan Merchan is now moving on to the procedure for filing motions.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says there are problems with the current system of requiring a pre-motion letter before filing motions, requiring 48 hours, and asks for guidance going forward into trial.

Merchan says that the reason that a pre-motion letter system was put in place is “because we were being absolutely inundated with motions, many of which frankly were close to frivolous if not frivolous.”

Merchan notes there are about “500 jurors” waiting and urges the lawyers on both sides to work out their dispute about how motions are filed.

Judge Juan Merchan is rereading his prior order where he says that the prosecution cannot tie Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to Donald Trump. He did allow testimony of Cohen’s guilty plea with the proper foundation, saying he doesn’t agree with Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche that his ruling was “confusing.”

Merchan said he can still revisit the prior ruling, but he doesn’t know what’s going to happen at trial.

Merchan said he does not want a jury to think that because Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations that therefore Trump is guilty of that — and he added the prosecution has said they are not going to argue that.

Some context: Trump’s attorneys and the district attorney’s office are debating what can be told the jury about Cohen’s crimes. It’s a key question because Cohen’s credibility is going to be one of the biggest issues for the jury in this case.

Donald Trump’s attorneys and the district attorney’s office are debating what the jury can be told about Michael Cohen’s crimes.

It’s a key question because Cohen’s credibility is going to be one of the biggest issues for the jury in this case. Trump’s attorneys are planning to try to discredit Cohen, who is a central witness for the prosecution.

Prosecutors want to bring in evidence about Cohen’s plea deal in a separate campaign finance case, but Trump’s attorneys have argued that should not be brought in because Trump is not charged with campaign finance violations.

A reminder from CNN’s Paula Reid: The falsifying business records case is a felony because Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is arguing that this was done in furtherance of an effort to influence Trump’s chances in the 2016 election.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche argues that the former president’s attorneys don’t intend to bring up Michael Cohen’s guilty plea on campaign finance violations — but Judge Juan Merchan is skeptical about raising some of Cohen’s crimes but not others.

He says that can happen, but typically it involves different crimes on different days, which is not the case here.

Blanche said Trump “is not charged” with any campaign finance crimes, saying the robbery conspiracy example is not applicable here.

Judge Juan Merchan must now consider whether Donald Trump violated a gag order.

According to CNN’s Paula Reid, Merchan faces a tough task on how to keep the former president within the bounds of the order without making him a martyr or disrupting the case.

Prosecutors pointed in court this morning to recent social media posts calling his former attorney Michael Cohen and adult-film star Stormy Daniels “sleazebags.” They argued that the post appears to be attacking the key witnesses in this case, which would be a violation of the gag order.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked the judge to clarify whether they can discuss Michael Cohen’s guilty plea to campaign finance violations, arguing that it shows why Cohen “changed his tune.”

“Michael Cohen is very much like a codefendant in a robbery case who agreed to testify against his cohort,” Steinglass said.

Judge Juan Merchan is back on the bench.

He told the court that questions about admitting tweets about Michael Cohen from 2018 is “academic,” because the door will be opened once Donald Trump’s lawyers try to attack Cohen’s credibility.

Trump has entered the courtroom after the court took a short break.

President Joe Biden and his campaign team are not planning to weigh in on former President Donald Trump’s historic criminal trial today, campaign officials tell CNN, keeping to their normal stay quiet strategy on Trump’s legal cases.

The president isn’t expected to use his predecessor’s historic criminal trial in his arguments against him, officials said, and the campaign also is not planning to use Trump’s legal woes as a fundraising tool for their own supporters.  

Campaign officials are fully aware the Trump trial could dominate news coverage in the weeks to come, but ultimately they believe the two men’s schedules this week — Trump in court and Biden on the campaign trail on Pennsylvania — will advance the “split screen” that’s been on display for voters this election, officials said.

Former President Donald Trump arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on April 15.

It’s a historic day in New York City as the first criminal trial of a former president and presumptive presidential nominee begins. Donald Trump has faced three civil trials in New York since he left the White House, but this is the first time he faces possible jail time.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, stemming from reimbursements made to Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for hush money payments he made before the 2016 election to an adult film star alleging an affair with Trump. The former president has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair with Stormy Daniels.

It’s known as the “hush money” trial, but Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg says this case is about election interference, alleging the $130,000 payment was part of a wider scheme enacted by Trump and his allies from 2015 to 2017 to keep damaging information from voters. 

Prosecutors allege once the Access Hollywood tape became public the campaign was scrambling to quash Daniels’ allegation out of concern of how it would play with female voters. Prosecutors will have to prove that Trump is guilty of falsifying business records with the intent to hide that $130,000 payment.

Read more about the trial — and what is at stake.

The court is now on a short break, and Donald Trump walked out without saying anything.

The court is taking a break and will return shortly.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass argued in court that the witnesses in the hush money case are testifying at a great cost.

“They have incurred the wrath of Trump supporters, a wrath fomented,” he said, referencing Tump’s social media posts.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche said there are “tweets and then the truths,” noting that the tweets came while Trump was president and facing a barrage of criticism in the media.

He says suggesting they’re part of “some sort of pressure campaign” opens “too many” questions for a jury.

The judge hasn’t decide how to handle the social media posts yet.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is now bringing up some of Trump’s recent Truth Social posts saying they violate the gag order to not make statements about potential witnesses.

Among the posts, prosecutors cite one from Wednesday when Trump references “two sleazebags,” which, in the context, are Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.

Some of the requests happening in court from the district attorney to admit evidence are follow-ups after Judge Juan Merchan made pre-trial rulings on evidence ahead of the trial.

The judge had ruled that the Trump “Access Hollywood” tape could not be played, so the district attorney’s office sought to include a campaign emails in response to the tape and Trump’s deposition where he was asked about it.

The judge ruled that the deposition would not be admitted but that the emails could be.

Law enforcement officers stand outside of Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on April 15.

Several law enforcement agencies are working together to provide security for the never-seen-before criminal trial of a former president.

John Miller, CNN’s chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst, described the plan as a “three-prong security package,” which includes Secret Service, the New York Police Department and court officers.

The Secret Service will handle the close protection of Donald Trump, while the NYPD will handle the roads and the motorcade route. When Trump is in the courthouse, court officers will be in charge of security.

Read more about the sophisticated and multi-layered security plan here.

The court is arguing now about whether prosecutors can show the jury emails, tweets and phone calls related to the pressure campaign on Michael Cohen to not flip and cooperate against Donald Trump.

Trump leaned forward to look at the screen in front of him as prosecutor Joshua Steinglass read the tweets on the screen about Cohen from 2018, which Steinglass said showed Trump “telegraphing” to Cohen the importance of staying on message.

While prosecutor Steinglass was speaking, Trump passed a note to his attorney Todd Blanche, who looked at it and nodded several times.

Judge Juan Merchan denied prosecutor’s request to bring into evidence the allegations of sexual assault against Trump that came out after the Access Hollywood tape. 

He said he will not allow Trump to be prejudiced by a “rumor.”

“They are very prejudical, and at this point, given what we know today, it was just a rumor,” Merchan said.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche called the allegations a “side show” and said they have never been proven.

Merchan said he will allow the tapes where Trump denies the allegations at rallies to be admitted.

Prosecutors are now seeking to introduce evidence about the allegations of sexual assault against Trump that came out after the Access Hollywood tape. Prosectors aired clips of Trump denying the allegations at rallies to argue that it shows Trump was concerned about losing support among female voters.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass clarified that prosecutors are seeking to admit the fact there were three women who came forward with allegations of sexual assault — not the articles where the allegations were made.

Judge Juan Merchan said he still believes the Access Hollywood video tape itself “should not come in” because it’s so prejudicial.

He also said he doesn’t think that the E. Jean Carroll deposition should not come in because it would be “building in a trial into a trial.”

Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15.

The district attorney is now seeking to include evidence about Trump’s Access Hollywood tape.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked to include campaign emails in response to the story about damage control, saying the emails are “powerful evidence” of the campaign’s reaction to the incendiary reaction to the video.

Steinglass says that they understand not playing the Access Hollywood video to the jury because it would be prejudicial. But he wants to include exhibits, including the transcript of Trump’s E. Jean Carroll deposition where he’s asked about the tape, to ensure that jurors understand “what that tape was about and why it had such a dramatic impact on the campaign.”

Trump attorney Todd Blanche says that reading the words from the tape in an email or in Trump’s deposition is effectively the same thing as not playing the tape itself.

Judge Juan Merchan says he will allow testimony of Karen McDougal, but he said it is not necessary for the jury to hear that Donald Trump continued his affair with McDougal while his wife Melania Trump was pregnant and after she gave birth.

“At this moment, the prejudicial value of that exceeds the probative value,” Merchan said.

Remember: The judge allowed a lot of this testimony when he made his decisions on “motions in limine” but he said how far they could go would be determined later. Prosecutors are now asking the judge to say how far they can go into the details.

McDougal is a model and actress who has said she had a monthslong affair with Trump in 2006 and was paid $150,000 to keep quiet about it by the National Enquirer. Trump has denied the affair. Prosecutors may use the payoffs as evidence that the schemes were aimed at protecting Trump’s electoral chances.

Judge Juan Merchan says he will allow the a series of stories the National Enquirer ran that were attacking Trump’s opponents into evidence. He noted that the district attorney’s office has demonstrated there was an understanding that certain things would be done and wouldn’t be done at AMI, which owned the National Enquirer.

“I believe this is necessary to complete the narrative of what took place,” Merchan says.

The DA’s office and Trump’s attorneys are now debating allowing testimony of Karen McDougal and Dino Sajudin.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche argues that including discussion of McDougal’s arrangement with AMI, which owned the National Enquirer, is not part of the charges against Trump.

Telling the McDougal story to the jury is “unfair prejudice is through the roof,” he argues.

Trump’s attorneys have tried unsuccessfully to block testimony involving an agreement between Karen McDougal and AMI. The district attorney’s office has argued that the AMI deal shows a pattern along with the Stormy Daniels hush money payments.

Prosecutors are now asking Judge Juan Merchan whether they can introduce testimony at the trial relating to a series of stories the National Enquirer ran that were attacking Donald Trump’s opponents, including articles about Ted Cruz.

The stories were the result of a August 2015 meeting at Trump Tower between David Pecker, Trump and Michael Cohen.

“Many of these headlines and the stories behind them were shown to Mr. Trump before they were published so he could approve, reject or suggest changes,” prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the judge.

Steinglass said the articles are the “concrete manifestation of the deal struck” at the meeting.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche objected, saying that this would “confuse” the jury and it was not a crime.

Prosectors will need to be hyper aware of how they present the case to the jury in court during the criminal hush money case against former President Donald Trump, CNN chief legal analyst Laura Coates said.

“If you’re the prosecutor, you know the second those jurors come in the room, it is performance mode,” Coates noted.

She said the prosecutors presentation holds a lot of weight when it comes to the case and speaking to the jury.

Coates added, that the jury will analyze the prosecutors and look at many variables in court, such as:

She continued, “You have to really be present and aware of how you present to a jury because you’re looking at each one of them, looking at you, wondering, ‘Do I trust this person? Can this person persuade me?’”

Judge Juan Merchan is now considering instructions for the jury and said he would ask the jury two questions.

A district attorney’s office attorney says it agrees to ask jurors two separate questions: Are jurors unable to serve because of conflicts, and then secondly, asking if they do not believe they can serve in an impartial way.

Merchan said this is “already by far the most exhaustive questionnaire this court has ever used” and said he will not make additional changes.

Police officers stand outside of Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, April 15.

Judge Juan Merchan said there will be no court on Monday, April 29.

He also said that while there will be no court on Wednesdays, he could change that schedule if there are excessive delays.

For Passover: “The court will work through lunch until 2 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday, April 22 and 23 and Tuesday, April 30 to allow counsel sufficient time to allow counsel to arrive at their holiday destination,” Merchan said.

Merchan said that he cannot yet rule on two requests from Trump and an attorney to adjourn the trial for a day so they can attend the high school graduations of their children, saying it depends on how the schedule is going.

The name “Sandoval” is expected to be heard often during today’s proceedings in the Donald Trump hush money trial.

CNN legal analyst Karen Friedman Agnifilo explains that it is “a little mini hearing that happens before every trial.”

During a Sandoval hearing, a judge is asked whether previous bad acts can be brought up and the judge is expected to weigh the probative value versus prejudicial effect of doing so, according to Agnifilo.

CNN’s Paula Reid previously reported that Trump’s lawyers expect to have a Sandoval hearing today before jury selection gets underway.

Judge Juan Merchan denied the motion for recusal and says he won’t consider it again until the appellate court rules.

Merchan says it’s the opinion of the court that Trump is using a “series of inferences, innuendos and unsupported speculation” to make his claims for recusal.

Trump appeared to be looking straight ahead, at a screen, biting his bottom lip as the judge rejected the recusal motion.

Judge Juan Merchan notes that there are two motions for recusal pending, one before him and one before a New York appeals court. He says he will issue a decision from the bench on the motion before him.

Merchan is now going over Trump’s allegations that he should be recused, including an interview he gave to the Associated Press about preparing for the trial.

Merchan says that allegations from Trump about his AP interview and 2019 comments about politicians using Twitter do not demonstrate bias.

Trump is sitting still and is facing the judge.

A court clerk opened the proceedings by saying, “This is the people of the state of New York vs Donald J. Trump.”

Judge Juan Merchan has entered the coutroom and the trial is underway.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys will vet prospective jurors to select a jury of 12, along with six alternates. 

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg just walked into the courtroom.

Donald Trump is seated between his attorneys, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove. 

New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan has not arrived in the room yet.

Before stepping into a New York courtroom for the historic start of his first criminal trial, former President Donald Trump spoke briefly to reporters and slammed the criminal case.

“Every legal scholar said this this case is nonsense, it should never have been brought,” Trump said.

Facts First: These comments aren’t accurate. While even some left-leaning legal experts have panned this case, there are plenty of scholars who believe this is a serious and legitimate prosecution.

Read more CNN fact checks about the New York case here.

Former President Donald Trump attends the first day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15.

Trump entered into a mostly empty courtroom just after 9:30 a.m. ET.

He walked in behind lawyer Todd Blanche, according to pool reports, paused for a split second and then began walking up the courtroom’s center aisle, past nine rows of wooden benches to either side, all empty and soon to be filled with jury prospects.

Trump was hunch-shouldered but chin up, and his expression was stern.

Inside the courtroom, Trump chatted with Blanche, who pointed out something on a document to Trump. He was smiling during an active back and forth with Blanche.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on April 15.

Former President Donald Trump spoke briefly to reporters ahead of entering the courtroom.

Trump claimed the trial is a “persecution,” adding that it “is an assault on America.”

“Nobody has ever seen anything like it,” he said.

Prosecutors Susan Hoffinger, Joshua Steinglass and Matthew Colangelo have arrived in the courtroom.

Approximately a dozen prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office are in the courtroom. District Attorney Alvin Bragg is not here yet.

Remember: Prosecutors need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that former President Donald Trump falsified business records with the intent to commit or conceal another crime, but they don’t have to prove that Trump committed that crime.

The prosecution theory is that second crime could be in violation of federal and state election laws or state tax laws for how Trump’s former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen’s reimbursement was handled.

Former President Donald Trump was first indicted in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney on state charges related to a hush money payment to an adult film star in 2016.

Now the case is going to trial. Catch up on the key people in the case below:

The motorcade of former President Donald Trump passes by outside the courthouse in New York on Monday.

Former President Donald Trump’s motorcade has arrived at the Manhattan courthouse where jury selection will begin for his hush money criminal trial. 

He’s the first former president to go on trial for criminal charges.

How jury selection will unfold: Court officials expect about 500 new jurors to appear each day beginning Monday to be available for the selection process, though some of those people will also be pulled to other cases in the court system.

As in any state criminal court case in the county, the pool will be limited to people who live in Manhattan. About 100 prospective jurors at a time will be brought into Judge Juan Merchan’s courtroom to be vetted.

Twelve jurors will make up the panel that will ultimately consider the 34 counts of falsifying business records against Trump. Six alternates will also hear the case in case a juror on the main panel needs to be replaced.

Donald Trump’s motorcade has departed Trump Tower, heading toward criminal court in lower Manhattan where he will make history as the first former president to go on trial for criminal charges.

Despite a blitz of last-minute attempts to derail the trial, jury selection is expected to get underway and will continue until a panel of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates are seated, a process that could take at least a week.

Judge Juan Merchan's courtroom sits empty between proceedings, Tuesday, March 12, in New York.

Choosing a jury for Donald Trump’s hush money criminal trial in New York will be no easy task when the defendant is a former president who has been at the center of the US political world for nearly 10 years now and a figure in the New York tabloids going back decades.

The jury of 12, along with six alternates, will be chosen from hundreds of New Yorkers after an exhaustive jury selection process that could stretch beyond the first week of the trial.

What Trump attorneys would be looking for: They will be looking for jurors who are sympathetic to Trump, of course — but also for anyone who might be an “independent thinker,” willing to stand alone and let a jury hang, said Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a CNN legal analyst and former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office. A unanimous verdict is required for conviction.

What the District Attorney’s office would look for: They will be trying to find jurors who are productive, constructive people who have to make decisions regularly and are capable of judging credibility, Agniflio said, criteria that could cover both office managers as well as parents.

CNN’s Kara Scannell, Kristen Holmes and Lauren Del Valle contributed reporting.

This photo taken April 4, 2023, shows a copy of the unsealed indictment for former President Donald Trump.

Donald Trump has faced three civil trials in New York since he left the White House, but this is the first time he faces possible jail time.

The former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree, stemming from reimbursements made to his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen for hush money payments he made before the 2016 election to an adult film star alleging an affair with Trump. The former president has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair with Stormy Daniels.

Each count represents a separate instance of the alleged misconduct, pointing to different business records associated with a series of repayments to Cohen (ledger entries, checks, stubs, invoices, etc.) that were allegedly falsified to conceal his criminal conduct.

Penalty: The maximum penalty for each count is four years in state prison. However, the judge has discretion on how long any sentence should be and whether to allow any sentences to be served consecutively. He could also sentence Trump to probation.

New York caps sentencing for this type of felony at 20 years.

A president has no authority to pardon state crimes.

Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers in New York, Thursday, March 14.

The New York judge overseeing Donald Trump’s hush money trial will take center stage in the case Monday with jury selection kicking off in the historic criminal prosecution of the former president. New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan is a seasoned jurist who is no stranger to Trump’s orbit. He has presided over the Trump Organization tax fraud trial, sentenced the former president’s close confidant Allen Weisselberg to jail over his role in the scheme and overseen former Trump adviser Steve Bannon’s criminal fraud case.

But it’s the former president’s trial on charges that he illegally falsified business records over the reimbursement of hush money payments made before the 2016 election that will leave a lasting mark on Merchan’s long career atop the state-level trial court.

Merchan launched his legal career in 1994 when he started off as an assistant district attorney in the trial division in the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. Several years later, he moved on to the state attorney general’s office, where he worked on cases in Long Island. In 2006, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, then a Republican, appointed Merchan to Family Court in the Bronx, and Democratic Gov. David Paterson appointed him to the New York State Court of Claims in 2009, the same year he began serving as an acting New York Supreme Court judge.

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Merchan emigrated to the United States at the age of six and grew up in the New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights, Queens, according to a New York Times profile of the judge. He was the first in his family to go to college. He received his law degree from Hofstra University.

Donald Trump’s lawyers expect to have a Sandoval hearing today before jury selection gets underway in the hush money trial, a source familiar with the plans tells CNN. 

A Sandoval hearing is a common preliminary proceeding that reviews a defendant’s criminal history and looks at how much prosecutors can ask if a defendant testifies. 

Donald Trump will make history when he arrives in lower Manhattan Monday morning as the first former president to go on trial for criminal charges.

Despite a blitz of last-minute attempts to derail the trial, jury selection is expected to get underway and will continue until a panel of 12 New Yorkers and alternates are seated, a process that could take at least a week.

The historic trial centers on a potential sex scandal coverup that took place just days before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors allege Trump falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of hush money payments that were made to influence the election outcome. Trump has pleaded not guilty and has denied having an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The case will be a major test for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, as it may be the only one of Trump’s four criminal cases to face a jury before Election Day. Trump will trade the campaign trail for the courtroom, where the presumptive Republican presidential nominee is expected to be four days a week for the next two months.

The former president has used his court appearances to rally supporters for his campaign but, despite his showmanship, the stakes for Trump are high. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. If convicted, Judge Juan Merchan, the no-nonsense judge overseeing the trial, could sentence Trump to probation or a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to 4 years on each count in state prison. A president has no authority to pardon state crimes.

Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial begins Monday.

Jury selection will start, and is expected to take six to eight weeks for the whole process from start to finish.

This trial, related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, is the first of four ongoing criminal cases that are expected to head to trial for the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

Read more about the stages of the case, and what they mean here.

The United States will cross a historic threshold on Monday when for the first time a former president goes on criminal trial in a case laced with fateful significance because Donald Trump could be back in the Oval Office next year.

When the presumptive GOP nominee walks into court for the start of jury selection, he and the country will enter a new state of reality as legal and political worlds collide in a trial almost guaranteed to deepen Americans’ bitter ideological estrangement.

The trial, related to hush money payments to an adult film actress before the 2016 election, will mark yet another extraordinary twist in the story of Trump, whose incessant testing of the limits of presidential decorum and the law has caused nearly nine years of political tumult and may still have years left to run. It raises the possibility that, depending on the jury’s verdict, the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election could be a convicted felon. And given the case’s subject matter — details about a payment to a woman who alleged that she had a sexual relationship with Trump, which he denies — it could reflect poorly on Trump’s character and ethics as voters weigh their decisions in November.

Read Collinson’s full analysis ahead of Trump’s first criminal trial.

When former President Donald Trump appears in a New York courtroom today to face an unprecedented legal battle in his hush money case, law enforcement will deploy a sophisticated and multi-layered security plan greater than that of his previous high-profile cases in Manhattan, law enforcement officials told CNN.

Trump, who is supposed to be in court and does not have the option of skipping any of the estimated six-to-eight week trial, is now the presumptive Republican nominee set to rematch President Joe Biden in November – a key difference from his attendance during a civil fraud case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James that inherently raises the stakes and will mean a more robust security package.

The hallmark of the strategy is a combination of extra staffing, strategically placed frozen zones, and high-tech deployments and intelligence, which includes monitoring social media for anything ranging from lone wolf threats to major politically themed protests and disturbances, the officials said.

“Obviously, the threat picture is bigger,” said New York Police Department Assistant Chief John Hart, commanding officer of the NYPD’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division, who added that the department did a similar security ramp-up around Trump when he became the GOP nominee in 2016.

Read more about how law enforcement is preparing for the trial.

Former President Donald Trump attends a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, on April 12.

Former President Donald Trump said Friday he would testify at his New York criminal hush money trial.

“Yeah, I would testify,” Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, as he continued railing against the charges against him.

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over the reimbursement of hush money payments made before the 2016 election. The former president has pleaded not guilty. 

President Joe Biden President Biden speaks to local supporters and volunteers at the office opening of the Wisconsin coordinated campaign headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 13. 

President Joe Biden is preparing a campaign swing through battleground Pennsylvania this week, zeroing in on his plans to raise taxes for the wealthiest Americans and corporations as he looks to present an economic contrast to former President Donald Trump.

The push will kick off Tuesday with a major address in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, campaign officials told CNN, a site he’s often turned to as the backdrop for making his economic populist pitch to voters.

Biden then will travel to the Pittsburgh area on Wednesday and speak at a campaign event in Philadelphia on Thursday, officials said. The campaign also plans to hold events in other battleground states next week to push the economic case against Trump, who is required to be in a New York City courtroom for jury selection at his hush money trial.

Biden’s campaign swing, the first since his March barnstorm of battleground states that will effectively serve as counterprogramming to Trump’s trial, comes as both men are trying to win over working-class voters. By focusing on taxes, the president also is attempting to break through on economic issues at a time when voters have maintained pessimistic views of their personal financial state and his handling of the economy, which has proven to be a vexing political issue in his reelection bid.

Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers, Thursday, March 14, in New York. 

Judge Juan Merchan rejected yet another attempt by former President Donald Trump on Friday to delay his criminal hush money trial.

Merchan issued an order Friday denying a motion from Trump’s attorneys to delay the trial due to excessive pretrial publicity. The ruling is hardly a surprise, and the latest in a series of decisions by the courts last week rejecting Trump’s 11th hour attempts to stop his first criminal trial.

Trump’s attorneys made the request to file the motion at a pretrial hearing last month. Merchan had already denied a similar attempt but allowed them to file the motion anyway.

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records over the reimbursement of hush money payments made before the 2016 election to an adult film star alleging an affair a decade earlier. Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied the affair.

Read more about the judge’s decision here.