NEW YORK — Even by Donald Trump’s standards, this has been a dizzying week.
The first criminal case against a former president began in earnest with opening statements and testimony in a Manhattan courtroom. But the action quickly spread and involved more than half a dozen cases in four states and the nation’s capital. Twice during the week, Trump’s lawyers appeared simultaneously in different courts.
The collision of so many cases in a five-day period underscores the challenges Trump will face as he campaigns for the White House again, as his legal affairs intensify. Although the presumptive Republican nominee sought to talk about the economy and other issues, his intended message was repeatedly overshadowed by the latest developments emerging across the country.
See how the week ended and what lies ahead:
The week began with a moment for the history books, as prosecutors presented a criminal case against a former American president to a jury for the first time. In opening statements, prosecutors told jurors that hush payments made to an adult film star were “a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election,” while Trump’s lawyers argued the case was baseless. The testimony then began with former National Enquirer editor David Pecker giving the audience the most tangible insight into the allegations.
It also gave the clearest picture of Trump’s defense and how he is blending his roles as candidate and criminal defendant. Trump is beginning and ending the day by appearing before reporters in court, offering complaints that he is required to be there and comments about how cold it is in the courtroom or comments about unrelated national news.
In a separate but nearby courtroom, one of Trump’s lawyers reached a deal with New York state lawyers over a $175 million bond Trump issued to suspend a large civil fraud judgment that he is appealing in a separate case.
Trump returned to court, where prosecutors began by urging the judge to hold Trump in contempt for social media posts that they said violated a gag order that prohibits him from attacking witnesses, jurors and others involved. The judge did not immediately rule on the request, but appeared skeptical of the defense’s arguments that Trump was merely responding to attacks from others.
Pecker, a longtime friend of Trump, testified the rest of the day and said he was committed to helping suppress damaging stories about Trump during the 2016 election.
Trial proceedings were not scheduled for Wednesday, so Trump did not travel to the Manhattan courthouse from his namesake rooftop tower. But he posted at 2 a.m. on Truth Social, his social media platform, criticizing the judge and did so again later in the day in an interview with Fox News Digital.
Meanwhile, more court documents were unsealed in Florida in another criminal case in which federal prosecutors accused Trump and two of his employees of mishandling classified documents after he left the White House. Although the case has proceeded at a slow pace in recent months and appears unlikely to come to trial this year, the documents show, among other things, the warnings Trump received from associates to return the sensitive files he was later accused of possessing. .
In addition to the cases in which Trump is charged as a defendant, Arizona’s attorney general on Wednesday indicted 18 of his associates for their roles in an effort to overturn Trump’s loss in that state to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election Trump was referred to in the Arizona case as an unindicted co-conspirator.
In a similar case in Michigan, a state investigator testified that he considers Trump an unindicted co-conspirator in that state’s case against fake voters.
Trump’s silence case in New York state court resumed on Thursday. But prosecutors began the day by arguing before the judge that Trump had again violated the gag order with social media posts and comments he made that morning at a pre-dawn campaign stop in the city.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan has not yet decided whether to hold Trump in contempt. Pecker later resumed testimony. Boris Epshteyn, a former Trump aide who was among 18 charged in Arizona a day earlier, was listening in court.
At the same time, in Washington, the US Supreme Court weighed whether Trump can be prosecuted for his efforts to undo his defeat to Biden. In their questions, the justices appeared skeptical of Trump’s claims of absolute immunity from prosecution, but some appeared to signal they had reservations about the charges, and that could result in a delay in the trial beyond the November election.
On Thursday, in New York federal court, a judge rejected Trump’s request for a new trial in a defamation case in which he was ordered to pay $83.3 million to a columnist for her social media attacks over social media. her allegations that he sexually assaulted her.
The hush money trial continued in New York on Friday, with Pecker wrapping up testimony and Trump’s lawyers trying to discredit him. Two other witnesses, Rhona Graff, Trump’s longtime executive assistant, and Gary Farro, a banker for Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen. Epshteyn was once again sitting in the courtroom.
The New York case of silence is not expected to resume until Tuesday because of a long day off scheduled for Monday. Testimony is expected to continue on Thursday and Friday, giving Trump a chance to make campaign stops in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the judge scheduled a morning hearing on prosecutors’ latest attempt to punish Trump under the gag order.
And in the Arizona case, details could emerge about the allegations against Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and former lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Sixteen of the 18 people indicted by a grand jury were charged with conspiracy, fraud and forgery for their role in submitting a false list of voters to Congress; the state attorney general has not yet confirmed charges against the two remaining defendants. The indictment makes it clear, based on their statements and positions, that they are Giuliani and Meadows, but the charges against them are still redacted.
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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker in Washington and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
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