Donald Trump seemingly appeared to fall asleep in the courtroom during his hush money trial just hours after arriving for the first day of proceedings.
New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman wrote: “Trump appears to be sleeping. His head keeps dropping down and his mouth goes slack.”
Shortly afterward, she wrote that the former president “has apparently jolted back awake, noticing the notes his lawyer passed him several minutes ago”.
Trump arrived Monday at the Manhattan court for the start of jury selection in his hush-money trial, marking a singular moment in American history as the former president answers to criminal charges that he falsified business records in order to stifle stories about his sex life.
The first trial of any former US commander-in-chief will unfold as Trump vies to reclaim the White House, creating a remarkable split-screen spectacle of the presumptive Republican nominee spending his days as a criminal defendant while also campaigning for the presidency.
READ MORE: Donald Trump LIVE – Judge delivers crucial message jury selection begins
Over the last year he has presented himself, on the campaign trail and on social media, as victim of politically motivated prosecutions designed to derail his candidacy.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records that arose from an alleged effort to keep salacious — and, he says, bogus — stories about his sex life from emerging during his 2016 campaign.
The charges center on $130,000 in payments that Trump’s company made to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen. He had paid that sum on Trump’s behalf to keep Daniels from going public, a month before the election, with her claims of a sexual encounter with the married mogul a decade earlier.
Prosecutors say the payments to Cohen were falsely logged as legal fees in order to cloak their actual purpose. Trump’s lawyers say the disbursements indeed were legal expenses, not a cover-up.
After decades of fielding and initiating lawsuits, the businessman-turned-politician now faces a trial that could result in up to four years in prison if he’s convicted, though a no-jail sentence also would be possible.
Trump would also be expected to appeal any conviction.
DON’T MISS:
Truss explains the conspiracy which blocked a Brexit US trade deal with Trump [EXCLUSIVE]
8 things to watch as Donald Trump becomes first president to face criminal trial [ANALYSIS]
Boris pinpoints ‘reasons for optimism’ over Trump’s White House bid [COMMENTS]
The day began with Judge Juan M. Merchan ruling on a variety of procedural pretrial motions as Trump sat hunched over in his seat and stared into a monitor directly in front of him on the defense table while evidence was shown.
The judge denied a defense request to recuse himself from the case after Trump’s lawyers said he had a conflict of interest.
Prosecutors also asked Monday for Merchan to fine Trump $3,000 over social media posts that they said violated the judge’s gag order barring him from attacking witnesses. Last week, he used his Truth Social platform to call Cohen and Daniels “two sleaze bags who have, with their lies and misrepresentations, cost our country dearly!”
“The defendant has demonstrated his willingness to flout the order. He’s attacked witnesses in the case,” said Christopher Conroy, one of the trial prosecutors.
One of Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche, maintained that the former president was simply responding to the witnesses’ statements.
“It’s not as if President Trump is going out and targeting individuals. He is responding to salacious, repeated vehement attacks by these witnesses,” Blanche said.
The challenging process of finding 12 jurors, plus six alternates, began today.
Trump’s notoriety would make the process of picking a jury a near-herculean task in any year, but it’s likely to be especially challenging now, unfolding in a closely contested presidential election in the city where Trump grew up and catapulted to celebrity status before winning the White House.
Trump’s three other criminal cases have gotten bogged down in legal fights and appeals, which may mean jurors won’t hear about them before the November election.
The 2020 election interference case brought by special counsel Jack Smith remains on hold while Trump pursues his claim that he is immune from prosecution for actions he took while in the White House. The US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on the matter later this month.
The other case brought by Smith accuses Trump of illegally retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate. The trial had been scheduled to begin in May, but the judge heard arguments last month to set a new trial date and has yet to do so.
No trial date has been set in the Georgia case accusing Trump and his allies of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.
Prosecutors have suggested a trial date of August, but defense attorneys are now urging an appeals court to consider whether Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis should be disqualified from the prosecution over a romantic relationship she had with a former top prosecutor who recently withdrew from the case.
Trump has pleaded not guilty in all three cases and says he did nothing wrong.
Follow our social media accounts here on http://facebook.com/ExpressUSNews and ExpressUSNews
