Donald Trump’s historic hush-money criminal case trial to begin in New York

Former US President Donald Trump will head to a NY courthouse on Monday and become the first former American president to stand trial in a criminal case. 

He is accused of falsifying his business records to disguise a hush-money payment made to a former adult film star – Stormy Daniels, just before the 2016 election. 

Trump, 77, faces a maximum of four years in jail if convicted but will likely avoid jail and be fined instead. 

He has pleaded not guilty. 

Trump’s trial comes amid the presidential race in which the former president looks set to be the Republican nomination to face Joe Biden this November. 

His many legal woes could see him become a convicted felon months before voters elect their new president. 

The trial begins on Monday and is expected to last six to eight weeks and will centre around a reimbursement Trump made to his former fixer Michael Cohen. 

Cohen, 57, claims he was directed to pay Daniels $130,000 (£104,000) in exchange for her silence about an alleged affair with Trump, something prosecutors have described as an attempt to “unlawfully influence” the 2016 election.

Hush money payments are not illegal. But the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office alleges that Trump committed a crime by improperly recording the reimbursement to Cohen as legal expenses.