Adam Klasfeld

Former President Donald Trump’s debut criminal trial may be about many allegations: hush-money payments to a pornographic film actress, a coverup to influence the 2016 presidential election, and serial falsification of business records to hide a campaign-threatening secret from voters and tax authorities.

On the cusp of the 2016 presidential election, after the “Access Hollywood” scandal sent his campaign reeling, then-candidate Donald Trump signs a $130,000 personal check to Stormy Daniels. He does so with the explicit goal of covering up his alleged affair to the voting public. But because such a payment is arguably an in-kind donation to his campaign, Trump in an abundance of caution, reports the payoff to the Federal Elections Commission.

A Manhattan judge skewered former President Donald Trump’s legal team’s allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in a hearing on Monday, declaring that defense attorneys leveled serious allegations that they could not support with any citation.

Even though Donald Trump has just posted a $175 million bond, the former president still remains on the hook at this time for the entirety of his more than $450 million civil fraud judgment.

Editor’s note: Readers may also be interested in Adam Klasfeld’s Daily Dispatches from the Trump Trial Courtroom in New York.

On Apr. 2, Kyrgyzstan’s president signed into law a restrictive bill targeting the country’s nonprofit sector and modeled on Russia’s restrictive “foreign agents” law. Civil society organizations (CSOs) that receive support from abroad and engage in “political activities” – a term so vaguely defined that civil society fears it may be applied to virtually any activities the government disfavors – fear arbitrary application of the new law. The measure is already leading some organizations to close out of fear for the safety of staff.

Jury selection started earlier this week in the first ever criminal trial of a U.S. president. It was an extraordinary historical moment –and yet it followed the same procedures as any other criminal trial.

For most casual observers of former President Donald Trump’s debut criminal trial in New York, adult film actress Stormy Daniels is a central figure. But prosecutors widened the aperture on the historic case through a sweeping narrative about election influence that went beyond any single hush-money scheme.

For over half a decade, the National Enquirer’s multifaceted plan to serve as the “eyes and ears” of former President Donald Trump’s first campaign gathered dust inside an investigative case file inside the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York.

A close look at the lines the judge must draw - and is drawing - to steer clear of testimony and other evidence that could cause undue prejudice to Defendant Trump.