Trial against Donald Trump: Who are among the possible witnesses?

Another court case against Donald Trump (77) began in New York yesterday, April 15th. The trial is considered historic, as it is the first time that a former president has to face criminal charges in the United States. According to US media reports, the list of possible witnesses includes more than 40 people – including key figures such as porn actress Stormy Daniels (45) but also family members such as Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka (42) and her spouse Jared Kushner (43).

The trial against the ex-president began on Monday with the selection of twelve jurors, but it will probably take a few more days before the trial enters its hot phase. It is expected that it could take well over a week or more before the jury is in place. The difficulty is finding people who are as unbiased as possible and who, at best, bring nothing “other than the fact that they know that Trump was the president,” says former prosecutor Joshua Naftalis. More than 50 potential jurors have already stated that they cannot approach the trial unbiased – and have therefore been eliminated from the pool of possible candidates.

Who is on the list?

At the beginning of the trial, Trump’s side also accused the judge in charge, Juan Merchan, of such bias, which he rejected. The names of over 40 potential witnesses were mentioned in the trial.

This contains a number of White House employees during the ex-president’s term of office or other employees. These include, among others, former Trump advisors Steve Bannon (70) and Hope Hicks (35), Trump’s ex-lawyer Rudy Giuliani (79) and Michael Cohen (57), who plays one of the central roles in the process.

Trump is accused of falsifying business documents in 34 cases. At the center of the allegations is an alleged hush money payment to porn actress Daniels, who claims to have had an affair with Trump. In 2016, shortly before Cohen’s election, 130,000 US dollars – the equivalent of around 122,000 euros today – were said to have flowed to Daniels on Trump’s behalf. Although such hush money agreements are not fundamentally illegal, they involve supposedly inadmissible bookings to potentially conceal further crimes. The public prosecutor’s office is of the opinion that Trump wanted to cover up something harmful and influence the election in his favor. The ex-president and his team reject the accusations.

Will the Trump family testify?

In addition to Cohen, Daniels is also named as a potential witness – as is former Playmate Karen McDougal (53). Like Daniels, she had claimed to have received a hush money payment as part of an alleged affair.

And Trump’s relatives could also have their say in the criminal trial, as some of them also had official roles during his time in office. There are several family members on the list – including his daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner, who worked as advisors for the now 77-year-old. Trump’s wife, ex-First Lady Melania Trump (53), and his sons Donald Trump Jr. (46) and Eric Trump (40) are also mentioned.

A verdict in the trial is expected in about six to eight weeks. If convicted, Trump theoretically faces a prison sentence of more than a decade. But Merchan could also opt for just a fraction of that or a suspended sentence with conditions set by the judge.