Donald Trump will be the first former president to go on trial on Monday when heads to court in Manhattan to face felony charges related to the hush money scheme to keep porn star Stormy Daniels silent during his 2016 presidential campaign.

The eyes of the world will be on downtown New York as the 77-year-old presumptive Republican nominee faces the judge and sits the court as a panel of 12 jurors are selected.

Trump’s lawyers have been filing a series of motions seeking to delay the trial. But the former president has lost repeatedly in those efforts, setting up the April 15th start date.

Donald Trump will go on trial Monday for felony charges in the state of New York

Trump faces 34 felony counts in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is charging the former president with using his business records to hide the $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair.

It is the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president. Monday starts with jury selection, overseen by Judge Juan Merchan.

‘Jury selection is largely luck. It depends who you get,’ Trump said Friday at Mar-a-Lago.

Below, DailyMail.com has broken down all the details and answered all the pressings questions about the case:

THE BACKGROUND 

Stormy Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, claims she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006, shortly after Melania had given birth to their son Barron.

It happened when the two met at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe.

In an interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes that aired March 25, 2018, Daniels said that she and Trump had sex once. She also claims she spanked him with a magazine that had him on the cover.

The former president has denied the affair and claims the trial is a politically-motivated ‘witch hunt.’

THE PAYMENT 

On January 12, 2018, the Wall Street Journal reported that then-Trump fixer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in October 2016, a month before the presidential election, to stop her from discussing the alleged affair and thus hurting Trump’s chances in the presidential election.

Prosecutors argue that Trump reimbursed Cohen in a series of installment payments processed by his business, which prosecutors say were fraudulently disguised as corporate legal expenses in violation of New York law.

Cohen, Trump and then-Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg reach an agreement that Cohen will be reimbursed $420,000 in total for the Daniels payment, prosecutors claim.

That includes a $60,000 bonus, $50,000 for a different expense and $180,000 to cover taxes – which would be made through 12 monthly payments of $35,000 each.

Cohen submitted invoices for the $35,000 payments, per Trump Organization business records.

THE CHARGES

The 34 counts include 11 counts on the checks to Cohen, 11 on the monthly invoices Cohen submitted to Trump’s company, and 12 involve entries in the general ledger for Trump’s trust.

The trial is related to $130,000 in hush money paid to porn star Stormy Daniels

WILL TRUMP BE AT THE TRIAL?

Under New York state law, Trump is required to attend his entire trial in person.

The trial is expected to last around six weeks to two months and Trump’s courtroom requirement will hamper his ability to campaign for president.

The court will set every weekday aside from Wednesdays, meaning Trump could use the middle of the week of weekends for campaign events.

While the trail will not be televised, pictures will of Trump in court will likely be allowed.

In the past, TV cameras have been allowed in the hallway of the courthouse and Trump has paused to address them.

Trump faces 34 felony counts in the case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is charging the former president with using his business records to hide the $130,000 hush-money payment to Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged affair

WHO WILL TESTIFY?

Daniels and Cohen have already indicated they will testify for the prosecution.

Other witnesses could include Karen McDougal, who is a former Playboy model who received a $150,000 payment from the National Enquirer for rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump which the publication didn’t publish in a move known as a ‘catch-and-kill.’

Former Trump aides, including his longtime assistant Rhona Graff, his former director of Oval Office operations Madeleine Westerhout, and former White House aide Hope Hicks, could also testify.

David Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, is also expected to testify.

Trump says he will testify in his own defense.

‘Yeah I would testify, absolutely,’ he said on Friday at Mar-a-Lago.

Former Playboy Bunny Karen McDougal may be called to testify

Stormy Daniels hopes she’ll be called as a witness at Trump’s trial

THE ADDITIONAL PAYOFFS

Prosecutors are expected to dive into two other hush-money deals involving The National Enquirer and Donald Trump.

The first involves the tabloid’s payment of $30,000 to a former Trump Tower doorman who claimed to know that Trump had fathered a child out of wedlock. The National Enquirer later determined the claim to be untrue.

The second involves McDougal, Playboy’s Playmate of the Year in 1998, who wanted to sell her story of an affair with Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Trump denies an affair with her.

Bragg and his team will argue those incidents prove the payoff to Daniels was not a one-time event but part of a broader effort to influence the 2016 election.

Trump’s lawyers have said he made the payment to Daniels to spare himself, his company and his family from embarrassment, not to help his campaign.

TRUMP’S DEFENSE

The former president’s defense team is likely to try and portray Cohen as a Trump-hating liar.

The two men – who were once very close – had a falling out years ago.

Trump’s attorneys also are expected to point out Cohen pleaded guilty to a variety of federal crimes, including for his role in the hush-money payment.

In August 2018, Cohen pled guilty five counts of tax evasion, false statements and campaign finance violations in federal court, stemming from his payment to Daniels.

He was sentenced to three years in prison, which began in May 2019 and ended slightly early in November 2021, with part of his sentence spent under home confinement during the COVID pandemic.

Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen is expected to testify in the trial

WHAT PUNISHMENT DOES TRUMP FACE?

If convicted, Trump could face up to four years in prison for each of the 34 charges against him.

Under New York law, falsifying business records is usually a misdemeanor but it can become a felony when there is an ‘intent to defraud’ that includes an intent to ‘commit another crime or to aid or conceal’ another crime.

Bragg argues Trump was concealing a federal campaign finance violation, a state election-law crime and tax fraud.

WILL TRUMP GO TO JAIL?

If Trump is convicted, he could face a sentence of up to four years in New York prison for each charge, which is a maximum of 136 years.

Given it’s a state crime only New York governor could pardon him. That office is currently held by Democrat Kathy Hochul.

However, given Trump’s age – he’s 77 – his lack of prior convictions and his status as a former president who may be president again, the judge could give him probation.

Most first-time offenders in non-violent cases are often sentenced to probation.

There are also the added complications of his Secret Service detail. There would have to be added provisions to house his protective detail if he were to be jailed.

He could be given house arrest in one of his homes including Mar-a-Lago, which is at the center of his classified documents case.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is leading the prosecution against Donald Trump

Trump speaks out after leaving court over hush-money case

WHAT OTHER TRIALS DOES TRUMP FACE?

Several.

There are two federal trials – one for trying to overturn the 2020 election and another for allegedly mishandling White House documents.

There is also a state case in Georgia looking at his attempt to overturn the election results there.

Trump has pled not guilty on all charges.

The hush money case is so far the only one with a concrete trial date, as Trump has sought to delay the others.

His federal election case is paused until the Supreme Court rules on Trump’s motion to dismiss  – he cites presidential immunity – which could take until June.

His documents case had its planned May trial date postponed after Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon pushed back deadlines in the case.

The Georgia case is also still without a trial date, though prosecutors have requested it to begin in August.