For all of last week, former President Donald Trump’s hush money trial was selecting jurors. This week, the court will hear testimonies from witnesses, ranging from Playboy models to White House personnel.
As the first witness, the prosecution plans to call former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, an insider told CBS News.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass warned prospective jurors that the witnesses have “what you might consider to be some baggage.”
Here’s a look at the prosecution’s witnesses.
DAVID PECKER
Pecker is the National Enquirer’s former publisher… and a longtime friend to Donald Trump.
Prosecutors say he met with the political candidate in August 2015 at Trump tower and agreed to help the campaign identify negative stories about him.
MICHAEL COHEN
Cohen is Trump’s former lawyer and longtime fixer turned hated rival.
He worked for the Trump Organization from 2006 to 2017. Cohen later went to federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations relating to the hush money arrangements and other, unrelated crimes like lying to Congress.
Cohen was once a fierce Trump ally, but now he’s a key prosecution witness against his former boss. Prosecutors allege that he was present at August 2015’s meeting between Trump and Pecker.
HOPE HICKS
Hicks is Trump’s former White House communications director.
Prosecutors say she spoke with Trump by phone during a frenzied effort to keep allegations of his marital infidelity out of the press after the “Access Hollywood” tape was leaked just weeks before the 2016 election. The 2005 tape included the infamous remark about grabbing women “by the p***y.”
STORMY DANIELS
“Stormy Daniels” is Stephanie Clifford, an adult actor who pocketed a $130,000 payment from Cohen as part of his hush-money efforts. Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet about what she says was a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier.
Trump denies any affair with Daniels, and he’s tweeted that his payments to Cohen were not related to the campaign.
KAREN McDOUGAL
Karen McDougal is a former Playboy model who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s.
In 2016, McDougal was paid $150,000 in 2016 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for the rights to her story about the alleged relationship. Trump denies any affair with McDougal.
DONALD TRUMP
After the prosecution’s turn, Team Trump will present its own witnesses. Trump himself has said that he plans to testify — but his lawyers may talk him out of it.
Given his record as a loose cannon, he’d be taking some risks by speaking on the stand.
Take a look at some of Trump’s more carefully worded remarks on the situation from 2018 —
Mr. Cohen, an attorney, received a monthly retainer, not from the campaign and having nothing to do with the campaign, from which he entered into, through reimbursement, a private contract between two parties, known as a non-disclosure agreement, or NDA. These agreements are…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
…despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair. Prior to its violation by Ms. Clifford and her attorney, this was a private agreement. Money from the campaign, or campaign contributions, played no roll in this transaction.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 3, 2018
Trump is facing four criminal indictments: two state and two federal.
Meanwhile, he’s campaigning for a return to the White House, and he’s aiming to split his time between the New York trial and the campaign trail.
Trump hasn’t held a rally since the start of his trial. He’d planned one for Saturday in North Carolina, but the campaign canceled it due to inclement weather. He wasn’t seen in public again until his trial Monday morning.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.