The US continued to create legal and political history on Monday as the first criminal trial of an American president began in a Manhattan, New York, courtroom, a year almost to the day after Mr Donald Trump surrendered to authorities.

That followed his indictment by a grand jury for allegedly paying a porn star — Ms “Stormy” Daniels, who claims they had extramarital sex — to bury a potential scandal that prosecutors argued might have torpedoed his successful 2016 presidential election. Mr Trump vehemently denies the claim.

The trial has no precedent in 200 years of American history, and its tumultuous lead-up has severely traumatised an already bitterly divided nation, but galvanised Republican support around their defiant leader.

Mr Trump claims that the 34 felony counts for falsifying business records, brought against him by the Manhattan District Attorney Mr Alvin L Bragg, a Democrat, is a “witch-hunt” meant to interfere in his bid to return to the White House in the coming November presidential election.

The trial is likely the only one of four criminal cases the former president is facing that may see the light of day before the elections, and which he has had to be juggling while campaigning.

Mr Trump also faces other legal perils, including in Georgia, where prosecutors in Fulton County are pursuing charges of interfering in the 2020 presidential election, by urging the its secretary of state to “find 11,780 votes” so he could win the state.

In Washington, DC, a Justice Department special counsel is running investigations on two lanes into Mr Trump’s broader actions to overturn his 2020 electoral defeat, and for holding on to classified documents after leaving office.

Yesterday, the Manhattan court began the arduous task of selecting a jury of 12 and six alternates
— from a reported 2,000 people
— who must swear that they can be impartial and fair, even though drawn from the most Democratic county in New York. The jurors will be anonymous to protect them from potential attacks, notably by Trump supporters.

Mr Trump has frequently launched verbal attacks on prosecutors, trial judge Juan M Merchant, and laterally his daughter who worked for a Democrat in the past. Still, Judge Merchant remained impartial enough to reject a request by prosecutors yesterday to introduce accusations of sexual assault that women lodged against Mr Trump years ago.

He, however, agreed to accept references to the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Mr Trump was heard to say he grabbed women by their private parts and kissed them without prior permission.

Jamaicans will be among those glued to the trial in which the potential cast of characters could include a former publisher of The National Enquirer said to have paid to “catch and kill” anti-Trump stories; Ms Hope Hicks, a former close aide to Mr Trump; Ms Daniels; and Ms Karen McDougal who also claimed the ex-president had a sexual affair with her and tried to cover it up.

Other notable names that the judge read out as potential witnesses, or people who could come up, were Mr Steve Bannon, out on bail appealing a four-month prison sentence; a disbarred Trump attorney Mr Rudy Giuliani; his wife Ms Melania Trump; and son-in-law Mr Jared Kushner.

A guilty verdict could mean an unimaginable four years in prison for Mr Trump.