welcom to America today with a new article about NY court will publish transcripts from Trump’s hush money trial. Here’s how you can access them
New York courts will publish daily transcripts of former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial, officials have announced.
New York typically does not allow audio or visual coverage in court rooms, meaning the public is unable to watch the first criminal trial of a former president in U.S. history live.
But certified transcripts of each day’s proceedings will be posted to the New York State Unified Court System’s media website by the end of the following business day, according to a news release Monday. Transcripts can be expensive and sometimes unavailable, depending on the location or particular court system.
“This historic case, which has generated unparalleled public interest, calls for this historic step by the court system,” First Deputy Chief Administrative Judge Norman St. George said in the news release. “This will serve to enhance public understanding of the trial with minimum disruption to the courtroom proceedings.”
What is Donald Trump on trial for in New York?
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that he falsified business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels that was designed to unlawfully interfere in the 2016 presidential election.
Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen issued the payment and violated federal campaign finance laws, according to prosecutors. But they also argue Trump authorized the payment to help his presidential campaign and falsified records to cover up the checks he sent to reimburse Cohen for the hush money.
The trial kicked off April 15 with jury selection, which concluded Friday. Both legal teams gave their opening arguments Monday, and the prosecution called its first witness: David Pecker, former head of the tabloid the National Enquirer’s parent company.
The Release of Transcripts from Trump’s Hush Money Trial
In 2018, President Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, negotiated a “hush money” agreement with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. This was to clamp Daniels’ claims that she had an affair with Donald Trump before he became the US President. The agreement was summarized as payments made to Daniels in exchange for her silence about her affair.
The first payment was made by Cohen on October 27th, 2016, just days after Trump had won the presidency, and the second was made on January 28th, 2017. The negotiations of this agreement were then unveiled within an article in the New York Times in early February 2018, which included an interview with Michael Cohen. This article led to involving the current President, Donald Trump, as it was his retainer payments reimbursed through a fake legal expenses invoice which fully paid off the agreement.
This brought questions of unethical behavior regarding the President, as well as violations to his campaign finance laws, which led to the sentencing of Michael Cohen. After this investigation, Trump claimed he had no knowledge of any agreements hit between Cohen and Daniels during his presidency, which then led to these recorded tape transcripts surfacing.