But the courthouse also offers Trump a powerful platform from which to communicate with his base. The hallway outside the courtroom will be home to television cameras and reporters for weeks, giving the media-savvy former reality television star free air time to publicly defend himself while spreading his campaign message.

Judge Juan Merchan has issued a gag order barring the former president from commenting on jurors, prosecutors and potential witnesses, citing threats to their safety. The order puts Trump at risk of fines and even jailing if he violates it. Trump has a history of flouting court orders.

The hush money trial will revisit Trump’s 2016 bid for the White House. The indictment includes 34 counts of falsifying business records, which is normally a misdemeanor. But Bragg argues the hush money payments amounted to campaign finance violations, elevating the charges to felonies.

White House run

Bragg’s decision to charge Trump last April supercharged his White House campaign. Trump consolidated voter support and surpassed his Republican primary rivals in the polls, clinching the GOP presidential nomination in March.

Yet a conviction could deliver a blow to Trump in the general election. More than half of swing-state voters said they wouldn’t vote for the former president if he is found guilty of a crime, according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll taken in January.

But Trump, who repeatedly broke conventions as president, still has a strong base of support. Four in ten voters in swing states said they would still be willing to vote for Trump if a jury finds him guilty, while an additional 7% were undecided.

Three more cases

Trump faces three other criminal cases: Special Counsel Jack Smith has charged Trump with multiple crimes stemming from his effort to overturn the 2020 election and the resulting attack on the U.S. Capitol. He has brought another case in Florida accusing Trump of taking sensitive government documents from the White House after leaving office and refusing to give them back. Trump also faces a state case in Georgia for allegedly leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election.

All the cases have been delayed by pretrial proceedings — including the Supreme Court’s decision to take up the question of whether or not former presidents are immune from prosecution — narrowing the window for these cases to go to trial before the fall.

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