The criminal trial of Donald J. Trump, the nation’s 45th president and the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee, started Monday with potential jurors assembling in a drab courtroom in New York City while Mr. Trump looked on.
Mr. Trump was charged in Manhattan, a deeply Democratic county and his former home, with falsifying nearly three dozen business records in an attempt to cover up a payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who has said she had a brief sexual encounter with him in 2006.
Mr. Trump denies that encounter happened, and has declared his innocence, calling the charges politically motivated. He has attacked the judge, Juan M. Merchan, and the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, a Democrat, who also attended the first day of trial on Monday.
Mr. Trump faces 34 felony counts and could face probation or up to four years of prison time.
The trial, which is expected to last weeks, has a fascinating list of potential witnesses: Michael Cohen, Mr. Trump’s former fixer turned apostate, who made the payment; Karen McDougal, a Playboy model who says she, too, had an affair with Mr. Trump; and Hope Hicks, a former aide to Mr. Trump. Ms. Daniels herself may testify.
Before any of that happens, a jury must be selected, a winnowing that began Monday.
Here are five takeaways from Mr. Trump’s first day on trial:
Justice Merchan is no-nonsense. That hasn’t favored the defense.
Justice Merchan, a veteran New York jurist, has been consistent about batting back defense motions on issues including the tardy disclosure of documents by prosecutors and efforts to delay or even dismiss the case.
That pattern continued on Monday, as Justice Merchan rejected a defense effort to force his recusal. The defense had cited several issues, including the fact that his daughter is a Democratic political consultant.
He also ruled that prosecutors could introduce evidence regarding Mr. Trump’s involvement with coordinating publicity with The National Enquirer to aid his 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Trump’s lawyers had described the evidence as a “sideshow,” but lost.
But Mr. Trump’s lawyers convinced Justice Merchan that sexual assault allegations that arose against Mr. Trump after the release of the so-called Access Hollywood tape, in which Mr. Trump was caught bragging about grabbing women’s genitals, would be prejudicial to the former president. Justice Merchan said the allegations would be off-limits during the trial, calling them “complete rumors, complete gossip, completely hearsay.”
The trial is about much more than business records.
Justice Merchan’s decisions on Monday made it clear that the trial will resurface unsavory events in the former president’s life.
Those include the Access Hollywood tape and other stories that Mr. Trump sought to suppress including an alleged affair with Ms. McDougal. Justice Merchan said on Monday that both could be discussed.
In a minor victory for the defense, the judge reaffirmed that the “Access Hollywood” tape itself could not be played, but that Trump’s exact words could be entered into the record.
Still, most of Mr. Merchan’s rulings indicated that salacious details of Mr. Trump’s biography will be heard in court.
Trump says he’s happy. His demeanor suggests otherwise.
Entering the courtroom, Mr. Trump said he was “very proud to be here.”
Once he was in front of Mr. Merchan, Mr. Trump looked a lot less enthusiastic. He slouched. He scowled. He scoffed. And he was quiet, not the norm for a man who built a political career with his gift for slashing attacks and vicious put-downs.
In court, the former president spoke only briefly, when asked a few questions by Justice Merchan about procedural matters, and whether he understood the consequences — ejection or jail — if he interrupted proceedings. He did whisper with his lawyers. And when the prosecution played a recording of him claiming to have great respect for women, he mouthed the word “true.”
But all in all, it seems it could be an exhausting experience for Mr. Trump; at one point before lunch, he appeared to fall asleep.
This trial may take a while.
It’s easy to forget how long it takes to do a little in legal settings. On Monday, the morning session was dominated by maneuvering by prosecutors and the defense, even as prospective jurors waited. By lunch, they were still waiting.
Jury selection could take days or weeks, and the trial itself may take two months. The Passover holiday could cause delays, Justice Merchan said, though he might make some of that up by holding hearings on court matters on Wednesdays, which was previously going to be an off day.
We are on our way to picking a jury. Slowly.
By afternoon, prospective jurors finally made their way into Justice Merchan’s courtroom. He warmly welcomed them, introduced the lawyers and Mr. Trump and read them a summary of the case.
Justice Merchan asked if any believed they could not be fair and impartial to the former president. Of the 96 prospective jurors in the room at that time, more than 50 raised their hands. They were immediately excused.
The remaining jurors were each asked 42 questions. By the end of Monday, 11 jurors had been questioned and two more were excused: a woman who said she could not be fair and a man who said his child’s wedding date could conflict with the trial.
