By May of a typical election year, the two leading presidential candidates have registered with the Federal Election Commission and announced their intention to run their campaign in hopes of earning constituents’ votes. The trajectory leading up to the 2024 presidential election however, has turned out to be notably different from any other.

On Apr. 18, 12 jurors were seated to determine the outcome of former President Donald Trump, who stands trial for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records to conceal a payment issued to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Trump now stands as the first former president in US history to ever face criminal charges.

Opening statements began on Apr. 22, during which the former president listened to the allegations made by the prosecution while the defense’s counterargument claimed he was a wrongly accused individual. The statements offered the jury insight on a case that unfolds as Trump is projected to be not only the presumptive Republican nominee in the upcoming 2024 presidential election but also a criminal defendant facing the potential consequences of a felony conviction and a lengthy prison sentence.

Mock Trial member and junior Oyinkansola Ajana shared how her extracurricular and academic experiences have shaped her views on the modern political landscape.

“My experience with Mock Trial has helped me gain hands-on experience that allows me to craft arguments that deepen my reasoning to make them more convincing,” Ajana said. “What also helped me was taking AP Gov because it allowed me to learn more about the government and the different functions and parts that create the government.”

Former tabloid executive David Pecker was called as the first witness to testify in the trial, discussing his Aug. 18 meeting with Trump. As the then-chairman of American Media IncPecker was involved in schemes to distort negative stories about Trump, and allegedly helped broker the deal with Stormy Daniels. 

Another notable witness to take the stand was banker Gary Farro, who helped Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen open accounts, including the one used to silence Daniels. Farro testified that Cohen contacted him in Oct. 2016 to open a new account at First Republic for a real estate consulting LLC (limited liability company) that Cohen created called Essential Consultants LLC. Based on Farro’s testimony, Cohen claimed that he did not want an address to appear on any of the checks for that account, and that the Delaware LLC was used to pay Stephanie Clifford, aka Stormy Daniels, the infamous $130,000 hush money payment.

Based on courtroom procedure, judge Juan Merchan has fined Trump nine times, $1,000 per violation of the gag order and has ordered him to remove the seven “offending posts” from Truth Social and two “offending posts” from his campaign website. The gag order serves to prevent Trump from criticizing witnesses, jurors, or anyone else involved moving forward in the trial.

At present, Trump has denied all 34 felony charges, with the looming threat that if he stands convicted, he could face probation or up to four years in prison. A conviction would prevent Trump from running for presidency in the future should he lose, and because it is a state case under New York’s legal jurisdiction, he would not be able to pardon himself if charged guilty. Via the ongoing Trump v. United States Supreme Court case, the Court will determine whether Trump has lifetime immunity from crimes he committed while in office.

Due to New York state law, which ranks among the most restrictive in the country when it comes to media coverage of court proceedings, the trial has not been televised to a national audience. That being said, some news reporters have been granted access to the courtroom to be able to report on the developing series of events.

On the contrary, Ajana wishes that the trial would have been televised to be able to gain a deeper insight into the court proceedings.

“The trial should have been televised because it would have been fun to watch and interesting to observe the ways the trial was handled in the courtroom,” Ajana said. “I would have liked to watch how Trump handled being questioned because during Mock trial, I was a witness and when I would get cross I would be so nervous and that’s with just playing a role. Trump was on trial and highly did some of the things he’s being accused of. I would have loved to see they ways he tried to avoid questions.”

As the testimonial process proceeds, the prosecution is leading up to testimony from Cohen himself, who went to federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations. Meanwhile, Trump has continued to deny any evidence of his wrongdoing and plead not guilty to each of the crimes held against him.