Donald Trump is now the first ex-president to go to trial for trying to cover up all of his past scandals. He is being charged with falsifying internal Trump Organization records to help cover up another scheme of other multiple damaging stories that he is involved with, involving sexual relationships and baby cover-ups, in an attempt to try to protect himself during his 2016 presidential campaign.
The main allegations are focused on how he paid off two women, Stormy Daniels, a porn actor, and Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, who had claimed to have extramarital sexual encounters with Trump, years previous to his campaign even including one claim by his Trump Tower doorman that knows all about his alleged child he had out of wedlock. This led to Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, attempting to pay Daniels and McDougal between $130,000 and $150,000. As they call it in the journalism world, “catch-and-kill,” meaning that they pay for the right to the exclusive story but cannot and will not have any intention of publishing it, seen as a favor to the subject of the story whether they are a celebrity or just someone to gain leverage over. These large amounts of money can be seen in the Trump Organization records as “legal expenses.”
On the whole, Trump has been charged with 34 counts of felonies for falsifying business records. Through a prolonged process of his trial, due to the countless failures of choosing proper jurors who will not be biased in any way towards the ex-president, it is a waiting game of who is worthy. As of recently, there have been seven jurors chosen for the trial: an information technology worker, an English teacher, an oncology nurse, a sales professional, a software engineer, and two lawyers. However, eleven more must be sworn in before anything can begin for the trial, making it seemingly impossible for new jurors to be chosen. Trump’s new lawyer has been able to make sure any jurors considered by the court are deemed unfit. By researching their past — whether it was about their personal lives, social media posts and even political views — to prevent any progress in being able to begin the trial. In total, 12 jurors must be chosen with the addition of six alternatives, and Judge Juan M. Merchan will be the one making the final decision of the trial.
If Merchan decides to find Trump guilty, the ex-president could face up to four years in prison. Ironically it would put Trump where he has more than once expressed for others to be, more specifically those whom he has targeted in the past — Hispanics. It may be the wake-up call many in higher power need; to be reminded that money and a high place in life do not guarantee full security.
