What happened
Former President Donald Trump's first criminal trial begins on Monday with jury selection. The 12 jurors will decide if Trump is guilty of business fraud in connection with 2016 hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accuses Trump of buying Daniels' silence about an alleged extramarital affair to influence the 2016 election.
Who said what
Manhattan is heavily Democratic, but "voters and jurors are two different types of people," defense attorney Ross Cellino told The Washington Post. Jurors "take their oath seriously to evaluate the evidence presented to them" and "appreciate the gravity of their vote in a trial." Trump needs just "one angry juror" to trigger a mistrial, Norman Eisen said at CNN.
The commentary
This hush money case has the "lowest stakes of the four prosecutions he faces," The Wall Street Journal said. But it "may be the only one of Trump's criminal cases to wrap before Election Day."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
What next?
After the jury is selected, the trial is "likely to last from six to eight weeks," the Journal said.
-
The 9 restaurants to eat at this very momentThe Week Recommends They’re award-winning. Isn’t that reason enough?
-
The UK’s opioid crisis: why the stats don’t add upThe Explainer A new report has revealed that the UK’s total of opioid-related deaths could be much greater than official figures show
-
Gaza genocide: will UN ruling change anything?Today's Big Question Commission of Inquiry’s findings ‘give unprecedented weight’ to genocide claims
-
Supreme Court: Will it allow Trump’s tariffs?Feature Justices fast-track Trump’s appeal to see if his sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional
-
Venezuela: Was Trump’s air strike legal?Feature A Trump-ordered airstrike targeted a speedboat off the coast of Venezuela, killing all 11 passengers on board
-
3 killed in Trump’s second Venezuelan boat strikeSpeed Read Legal experts said Trump had no authority to order extrajudicial executions of noncombatants
-
Is Kash Patel’s fate sealed after Kirk shooting missteps?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The FBI’s bungled response in the immediate aftermath of the Charlie Kirk shooting has director Kash Patel in the hot seat
-
Russian drone tests Romania as Trump spinsSpeed Read Trump is ‘resisting congressional plans to impose newer and tougher penalties on Russia’s energy sector’
-
Trump renews push to fire Cook before Fed meetingSpeed Read The push to remove Cook has ‘quickly become the defining battle in Trump’s effort to take control of the Fed’
-
Will Donald Trump’s second state visit be a diplomatic disaster?Today's Big Question Charlie Kirk shooting, Saturday’s far-right rally and continued Jeffrey Epstein fallout ramps-up risks of already fraught trip
-
Air strikes in the Caribbean: Trump’s murky narco-warTalking Point Drug cartels ‘don’t follow Marquess of Queensberry Rules’, but US military air strikes on speedboats rely on strained interpretation of ‘invasion’
