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Donald Trump’s past catches up with him. So yes. After decades of scandals and legal disputes that failed to harm him, the 76-year-old is now the first former president in US history to face criminal charges. It’s about hush money for a porn star. But only remotely – it’s really about whether the payments might be in violation of campaign finance rules. The focus is on three characters: The porn actress who got everything rolling. A witness who knows Trump well and will likely play a key role in the case. And the prosecution is taking on Trump in this difficult case.
Stormy Daniels – The porn star
The 44-year-old porn actress, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, says she had sex with Trump in 2006, which he vehemently denies. According to her, the two met and slept together during a golf tournament weekend at Lake Tahoe in the summer of 2006 — just a few months after Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to their son Barron. Daniels revealed spicy details of the alleged connection in interviews, claiming that she and Trump had been in contact for months afterward. Trump dismisses all of this as “false and extortionate allegations”. In any case, Daniels gained international fame through the story.
She grew up in poor and difficult circumstances in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After her parents’ divorce, she lived with her mother as a child, who often left her alone. Daniels was abused by a neighbor when she was nine, as she later revealed in a book. In interviews, she has described how as a child she felt like something of a leper: poor, somewhat lost, without decent clothes, reeking of cigarette smoke, with a struggling mother and no functioning family.
As a young woman she entered the porn industry and made a career – as an actress and later also as an author and director. Her husband, the fourth, is also a porn actor. Daniels has a daughter from a previous relationship.
In 2016, in the middle of the presidential campaign, which Trump emerged victorious at the time, Daniels received hush money to stop her accusations that she had sex with the Republican. Daniels told the British newspaper The Times a few days ago that Trump now faces criminal charges in connection with the payment: “He has done so many worse things for which he should have been punished sooner.”
Michael Cohen – Former Trump attorney
The attorney worked for Trump for more than a decade and has been a central figure in several cases involving the Republican. He was often described as Trump’s “cleaner” – until the rift came between the two. Cohen then made serious allegations against Trump in court and in Congress. The case will likely depend heavily on Cohen’s credibility as it is the direct link between Trump and the payments. He is considered the main witness.
The 56-year-old has admitted to paying Stormy Daniels $130,000 to keep her from speaking out about her alleged affair with Trump during the 2016 election campaign. Cohen says he ordered these kinds of payments to two women at Trump’s behest done. The second case involves Karen McDougal, a former “Playboy” model. She had also stated that she was having an affair with Trump. Trump also denies that.
Cohen himself stood trial in 2018. At the time, it turned out that he had more than $4 million in untaxed income. He also pleaded guilty to falsifying real estate loan numbers — and making the two hush money payments on behalf of Trump to influence the 2016 presidential campaign. Cohen was eventually sentenced to three years in prison, but was allowed to serve part of the sentence in house arrest due to the corona pandemic. He also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress.
Trump’s lawyers continue to question Cohen’s credibility. They claim that he has already been convicted of cheating and lying. If the ex-president goes to trial, it is to be expected that his lawyers will try to portray Cohen as a witness who cannot be trusted and who only wants revenge.
Alvin Bragg – The Accuser
The 49-year-old is Manhattan’s first black chief prosecutor. Now he will also go down in history as the first American lawyer to indict an ex-president. Bragg thus becomes something of an opponent of Trump and therefore also an enemy of the American right.
Growing up in Manhattan’s Harlem neighborhood in the 1980s, Bragg experienced crime himself: “Before I was 21 years old, a gun was pointed at me six times: three times by police officers and three times by non-cop officers. I had a knife on my neck, a semi-automatic pistol on my head and a murder victim on my doorstep.”
After starting as a prosecutor in early 2022, the family man initially came under internal pressure because he wanted to devote more resources to the prosecution of serious violent crimes and less to drug or prostitution-related crimes. He has also been criticized for being too hesitant about Trump for failing to press charges in connection with the current case. In one of his few TV interviews, Bragg said only, “I’ll bring hard cases when they’re ready.”
Trump’s impeachment has now cleared this hurdle. As a result, Bragg and his associates have been the target of a variety of threats and insults. He averted turbulent weeks and months for his colleagues. The right paints Bragg as a Democrat who wants to get rid of Trump before the 2024 election. Indirect campaign support for Bragg from American investor George Soros, who is hated by conservatives, gives them extra ammunition. (SDA)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
