Earlier today, Trump said he wants his trial moved from Manhattan to Staten Island. He thinks he won’t get a fair trial “because it’s a bastion of Democrats.” However, it is historic: never before has a former president been indicted.
US correspondent Jan Postma – who is on the scene at the New York courthouse – understands why Trump made the request. “New York isn’t really a pro-Trump city, that’s just the way it is,” he says, naming the courtroom protests.
New York is not a pro-Trump city
Trump supporters and opponents are in attendance en masse and are kept apart with fences, but compared to the Jan. 6 protests, “it’s not that bad,” according to Postma. “That’s a pretty modest demonstration.”
Chance of success
If Trump manages to move the trial to Staten Island – which is much more conservative – Postma does not dare to say. This is up to the judge. “A judge can decide that, but to be honest I don’t think the chances are that great,” Postma says. “He’s only made up in Manhattan.”
During the impeachment of Trump, all allegations against him are pronounced and, in principle, made public only to him. Foreign commentator Bernard Hammelburg, however, expects the prosecution to share the details with the rest of the world later. “That was because this was a grand jury matter,” he says. “An investigative jury, and we don’t know that. He has only one task: to answer the question of whether someone should be charged or not. It ends with an indictment and then the job is done.
Processes
Hammelburg points out that after that it becomes a normal trial, “and when a normal trial starts, charges are usually announced,” he continues. Even if it’s just that the law also requires Trump and his lawyers to know what he’s saying. There haven’t been any so far.”
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The Trump trial has just begun in New York. The former president is the first person in US history to face criminal charges. In addition, Trump was the first former president to survive impeachment proceedings twice and the first former president to have his home searched by the FBI.