No matter where you may stand on the political spectrum, you most likely would be curious to know what will happen inside the courtroom during former president Donald Trump’s hush money trial, wherein he’s faced with 34 felony charges, which include the falsification of business records related to payments made to keep an alleged affair under wraps.
One big reason for this inclination from the majority of the public is that this will be the first time a former president is to stand trial in a criminal case.
One netizen wrote, appropriately summarizing what has become an indisputable media circus but is in truth a make-or-break test for US democracy when it comes to the accountability of elites:
A reporter for The New York Times who’s been following the trial, Benjamin Protess, has written:
“Trump’s attempt to oust the judge is expected to fail. Trump has argued that the judge, Juan M. Merchan, cannot be fair because his daughter is a Democratic political consultant. Ethics experts disagree.”
The aforementioned judge is Juan M. Merchan, who was also the presiding judge during the 2022 trial which convicted the Trump Organization and imposed a $1.6 million dollar fine.
So, will the historical trial be televised?
No, to what is surely the disappointment of many, Trump’s upcoming trial will not have cameras inside the courtroom. This is due to New York state law. Judge Merchan could’ve potentially made an exception but, in order to act as impartial as possible, he likely chose to comply with the law of the state.
At the time of this writing, the jury selection process is underway, and we know that the question of who they voted for in the previous election is not one that they are being posed. That said, they have to answer other questions such as whether they’ve ever attended a Trump rally, which can be pretty telling of their political inclination.
Another The New York Times reporter who’s been following the proceedings wrote:
“The prosecutor Joshua Steinglass, before the break ended, indicated that the prosecution will ask the judge to hold Trump in contempt for his attacks on witnesses.” Which may well be referring to attacks Trump made on his former attorney Michael Cohen, who is to be a star witness.
It is unfortunate that the public cannot have a first-row seat to something that would be sure to be revealing of the character of a presidential candidate. Seeing with one’s own eyes is better than reading second-hand, and, for democracy to function as it should, the public ought to be as informed and armed with factual knowledge as possible.
If convicted of these charges, Donald Trump could, at least in theory, face jail time.
