Today is Sunday, April 14, 2024. Tomorrow Donald Duck will make history as the first former president to go on trial for criminal charges here in New York City, the city he fled for the sunnier and more conservative climes of Florida a few years ago. Despite a blitz of last-minute attempts to derail the trial, which didn’t succeed, jury selection is expected to get under way and will continue until a panel of 12 New Yorkers and alternates are seated, a process that could take at least a week or even longer.

Details of this upcoming trial are covered in an online CNN article by Kara Scannell and Lauren del Valle entitled “Trump hush money case makes history with first criminal trial of a former president.”

The historic trial centers on a potential sex scandal coverup that took place just days before the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors allege that Herr Drumpf falsified business records to hide the reimbursement of hush money payments that were made to influence the election outcome. As expected, Drumpf has pleaded not guilty and has denied having an affair with adult film star Stormy Daniels who probably knows what his genitals look like and will testify to their appearance at the witness stand.

The case will serve as a major test for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, as it may be the only one of Drumpf’s four criminal cases to face a jury before Election Day. So a lot is being invested with this first and possibly only trial of the former insurrectionist before the crucial election. Trump will then trade the campaign trail for the courtroom, which can’t be good optics for the Orange Menace, where the presumptive “Reputin” presidential nominee is expected to be four days a week for the next month.

The former commander in “grief” has used his court appearances to rally dimwitted supporters for his campaign but, despite the performative nature of his many court shenanigans, the stakes for Drumpf are extremely high. He is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. If convicted – and may God be listening here – Judge Juan Merchan, the no-nonsense judge overseeing the trial, could sentence Trump to probation or a maximum sentence of 1-1/3 to 4 years on each count in state prison. A president, thankfully, has no authority to pardon state crimes.

The trial will pit witnesses once in Drumpf’s inner circle against him, including his onetime attorney and former fixer Michael Cohen; longtime friend and former CEO of the company that published the National Enquirer, aptly named David Pecker, who executed “catch and kill” deals; and campaign confidante Hope Hicks.

It will also take the jury inside the Oval Office, where prosecutors allege then-president Drumpf signed off on the coverup that involved falsifying business records – invoices, ledger entries, and checks – to reimburse Cohen for phony legal services. And it may even feature one audio recording of Drumpf and Cohen allegedly discussing a catch and kill deal.

All in all, prosecutors may call as many as 18 witnesses to call to enter financial documents into the case if both sides aren’t able to reach an agreement about their authenticity.

Trump’s legal defense is much closer to the vest, which doesn’t involve as many witnesses as those on the prosecution side, but they indicated they plan to attack the credibility of Daniels and Cohen and paint them as liars who are motivated by grudges and greed. Talk about lying! Who’s lied about 30,000 times during his one term in office? Don’t talk to us about lying here.

Trump’s lawyers say they plan to call at least two witnesses in their case: Bradley Smith, a former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, and Alan Garten, the top legal officer of the Trump Organization.

What could also happen in this unprecedented case is that Drumpf himself could testify in his own defense, which could be a total disaster. He did testify in two recent civil trials, but the stakes are much higher in a criminal case, and if this sack of shit decides to bloviate as he is wont to do on the campaign trail, the judge can hush him. Or maybe cite him for contempt or even throw him in hoosegow.

The trial goes back to the final days of the presidential election when Stormy Daniels was about to go public with allegations that she had sex with Drumpf in 2006 at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe. The Access Hollywood tape catching Drumpf on a hot mic speaking lasciviously about his proclivity to grope women by the pussy had just come out, sending panic into his campaign as it sought to limit the impact on female voters, prosecutors allege.

The indictment alleges that Drumpf’s allies scrambled to pay Daniels hush money to prevent her from speaking out.

It was the third “catch and kill” deal to come after a key meeting at Trump Tower in August 2015 between Trump, Cohen, and Pecker. At the meeting, which was held one month after Drumpf announced his candidacy, Pecker allegedly agreed to be the “eyes and ears” for the campaign to look out for negative stories, according to the indictment.

In 2016, American Media, the then-publisher of the National Enquirer, paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy playmate who said she had a sexual relationship with Drumpf while he was married, $150,000 for her silence and offered her two magazine cover stories.

On October 7, 2015, the Access Hollywood tape was released. On October 27, 2016, Cohen wired the money to Daniels and 12 days later, the son of a bitch won the election.

Prospectors allege that Drumpf agreed to reimburse Cohen, who hammered out the details with Allen Weisselberg, the former longtime chief financial officer of the Trump Organization. As part of the reputed scheme, the Trump Organization paid Cohen $420,000 to reimburse him for the payment, some political work, taxes, and a bonus. According to prosecutors, the Trump Organization noted on the checks to Cohen and in their books that the payments were legal expenses pursuant to a retainer agreement.

Well, here is the chronology of the first case against Donald J. Trump, liar extraordinaire. It should prove to be highly explosive. Don’t forget to have your popcorn ready as you view – or hear – it on television, even though cameras are banned from the courtroom in New York.

The other story that has just dominated the news cycle is the Iranian attack on Israel the other day that was successfully intercepted by Israeli forces, and yesterday, President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a conversation that the United States will not participate in any offensive action against Iran, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter.

This new development is reported on in an online CNN article by MJ Lee, Kevin Liptak, and Priscilla Alvarez entitled “Biden tells Netanyahu US will not participate in any counter-strike against Iran.”

In the conversation with Netanyahu, Biden sought to frame Israel’s successful interception of the Iranian onslaught as a major victory – with the suggestion that further Israeli response was unnecessary.

Biden told the Israeli prime minister in his phone call that he should consider Saturday a win because Iran’s attacks had been largely unsuccessful and demonstrated Israel’s superior military capability, a senior administration official said.

Whether the hawkish prime minister takes Biden’s advice remains an open question. The Iranian reprisals came at a moment of deep tension between the men over the war in Gaza. Israel told the United States that it’s not “looking for a significant escalation with Iran,” the senior Biden administration official said Sunday.

This official said, “The president was very clear that we’re going to help defend Israel, and he made very clear to the prime minister last night that we do have to think carefully and strategically about risks of escalation.” However, there will probably be political pressure from inside the country to conduct some kind of response to Iran.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said the assault – the first launched from Iranian soil against Israel – did not necessarily have to constitute the start of a broader regional war.

Let’s hope that both sides here do show some restraint and do not take this conflict to a much broader scale, involving possibly other countries in the strife.

This could be an impactful week. Have a nice one.

Stay safe and be well.

Here Atticus seems to be saying, “Don’t tell me to get down. I’ll get down from here when I’m good and ready.” (If I’ve posted this pic already, excuse me.).