New York Judge Threatens Trump With Jail Time During First Day In Court - 'Election Interference'

On Monday, presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump traveled to New York City for the first day of his criminal trial in the hush money case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D). The defense and prosecution will begin to decide who will serve on the 12-man jury that will decide the 45th president's fate. During the hearing, Trump, who has repeatedly railed against the case as political persecution, was threatened by presiding Justice Juan Merchan that he would face jail time if he were to interrupt court proceedings or if he failed to appear while the trial was taking place.

During the hearing, Judge Merchan explained to the former president that he would be arrested if he did not appear at every hearing in the criminal trial in the coming months, a move that many conservative commentators claim is election interference. "If you do not show up, there will be an arrest," Merchan said. The trial is expected to take place over the next couple of months, perhaps even lasting until June.

The judge, whose daughter works for a Democrat-aligned campaign firm, refused to recuse himself from the trial and dismissed attempts by the prosecution to submit evidence of sexual assault accusations from many years ago, per The New York Times. The prosecution also moved to attempt to punish Trump with a $3,000 fine for breaking his gag order by attacking convicted perjurer, Trump's former lawyer, and witness Michael Cohen over the weekend on Truth Social.

The jury selection process, where lawyers from both sides will ask hundreds of prospective jurors for their opinion of one of the most famous men in the world, will likely take weeks. The lawyers will ask each potential juror a plethora of questions to determine their underlying perceptions of Trump and to pick an impartial jury. Following the initial selections, lawyers from each side will have the option to cut ten jurors from the pool and ultimately decide who will be the final 12 to judge the case.

The hush money case, one of four criminal indictments against Trump, was brought by District Attorney Alvin Bragg last year and includes 34 felony charges against Trump for allegedly falsifying business records after the presidential candidate paid hush money payments to Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress that Trump allegedly had an affair with in the early 2000s.

Trump railed against the persecution outside the courtroom before the hearing began, telling reporters, "This is political persecution, this is a persecution like never before. Nobody has ever seen anything like it. And again, it is a case that should have never been brought. It is an assault on America. And that is why I am very proud to be here. This is an assault on our country. It is a country that's failing. It is a country that is run by an incompetent man that is very much involved in this case. This is really an attack on a political opponent, that is all that it is. So I am very honored to be here; thank you very much."

You can follow Sterling on X/Twitter here.