Lawyers in Donald Trump’s hush money trial: Meet the lawyers and prosecutors fighting the case in the Stormy Daniels case

The procession of Donald Trump’s first criminal trial has arrived.

The former president will appear in court in Manhattan on Monday, despite several efforts by his legal team to delay the start of Stormy Daniel’s hush money case, in which he is accused of trying to hide a $130,000 payment to cover over an affair which he denies ever. having.

His legal team has been in and out of court for months trying to get the charges thrown out, arguing it should be elsewhere because he can’t get a fair trial in Manhattan.

The presumptive Republican nominee’s lawyers will now do battle with prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

He has tapped an experienced white-collar lawyer, a criminal defense attorney and those who have worked on Trump Organization cases to fight his corner as he faces 34 charges of falsifying business records.

Here are key members of both the prosecution and defense teams as jury selection begins Monday.

DEFENSE

Todd Blanche

Blanche is the head of Trump’s legal team and will lead his defense in the trial, which could last between six and eight weeks.

The functional attorney and former federal prosecutor was hired the day before Trump’s April 2023 impeachment trial.

Retiring from an elite New York law firm, he relished the opportunity to represent Trump and is now assigned three of his four criminal cases.

Blanche has already worked for Trump’s inner circle. He represented Trump lawyer Boris Epshteyn, former campaign manager Paul Manafort and Rudy Giuliani associate Igor Furman.

Susan Necheles

Educated at Yale Law School and head of his own law firm, Necheles is known for being particularly tough on cross-examination and cutting teeth representing mobsters.

The intrepid attorney joined Trump’s legal team years ago when she represented the Trump Organization in the Manhattan District Attorney’s tax fraud case.

When Trump has appeared in the courtroom in Manhattan, she has been by his side at the defense table, giving him advice.

She started her career at a corporate law firm and in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

She then moved into criminal law at a firm with Frederick Hafetz, who eventually named her partner.

Recently, she defended Seagrams heiress Clare Bronfman, who was convicted in 2020 of funding the NXIVM sex cult in upstate New York.

She also advised Genovese crime family underboss Venero Mangano, who was known as Bennie Eggs and has represented a Miss America and Lady Astor’s son.

According to reports, Harvey Weinstein tried to hire her to fight sexual assault allegations against him in 2019 because of her ‘extremely creative arguments’.

Emil Bove

Trump added Bove to his team in September 2023.

He was Co-Chief of the National Security Unit at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.

In a statement to CNN when he was hired, Blanche called Bove ‘an expert in white collar and CIPA-related litigation’.

Gedalia Stern

Stern is a partner in Necheles’ law firm, which also worked on the Trump Organization tax fraud case in 2022.

“He has extensive experience representing clients in both federal and state courts charged with a variety of crimes, including bribery, benefit fraud, fraud, kidnapping and sex crimes,” reads a description on Necheles’ firm’s website.

The prosecution

Chris Conroy

Conroy has worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office for 27 years and now serves as Executive Assistant District Attorney and Senior Advisor for the Investigation Division.

He has worked in the Violent Criminal Enterprises Unit and the DA’s Major Economic Crimes Bureau.

He has overseen major cases including violations of US sanctions and is an expert in calcifying business records, the charges Trump faces.

Susan Hofinger

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg hired Hoffinger last year to bolster the team investigating Trump.

She argued against Necheles during the Trump Organization tax fraud case and secured a conviction.

The Columbia Law School graduate worked in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office from 1992 to 2000.

She moved into private practice before being brought onto the prosecution’s team last year when two members abruptly resigned over Bragg’s handling of the case.

As both a prosecutor and a defense attorney, she has extensive experience with white-collar crime.

One of her tactics may be that she will treat Trump like any other defendant in a criminal case.

Josh Steinglass

Steinglass is a 25-year veteran of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, known for prosecuting high-profile murders and manslaughter.

Alongside the Trump case, he also led the investigation into Jordan Neely’s subway suffocation death. Daniel Penny is awaiting trial and has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

Steinglass was also a key member of the team that secured the conviction of two Trump Organization companies in 2022 on 17 counts of tax fraud.

He questioned key witnesses and made the closing argument.

Matthew Colangelo

Former senior Justice Department official Colangelo is a lawyer Trump has often cited as evidence that the Manhattan investigation is tied to the Biden administration.

He was hired in 2022 after being involved in the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into Trump, which resulted in the former president paying a $454 million fine for fraud.