NY vs Trump: The evidence prosecutors can present if former president testifies

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg can bring up information from cases brought against former President Trump by New York Attorney General Letitia James and E. Jean Carroll in the cross-examination of the 2024 GOP presumptive nominee should he testify in his own defense, the judge presiding over the trial ruled Monday. 

Bragg and prosecutors in the district attorney’s office filed a motion last week saying they intend to use Trump’s alleged “prior misconduct and criminal acts” to discredit him after he testifies in the criminal trial. 

Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg arrives at Manhattan criminal court, Tuesday, April 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

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Trump has never been convicted of a crime. 

Judge Juan Merchan, who is presiding over the criminal trial, decided Monday that Bragg’s office can bring up information from James’ lawsuit against the former president — including New York Judge Arthur Engoron’s decision that found him liable of fraud. 

Judge Juan Merchan poses for a picture in his chambers, Thursday, March 14, 2024, in New York. (Seth Wenig/Associated Press)

Trump was required to post a $454 million bond in that case, but an appeals court slashed that judgment in half to $175 million while the former president and his legal team appeal the ruling. 

Engoron made the decision after a monthslong, non-jury civil fraud trial. 

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Merchan, on Monday, said Bragg can bring up Engoron’s ruling. Bragg is also allowed to bring up Trump’s alleged violation of the gag order imposed upon him in that case, where Trump was fined more than $10,000. 

Former President Trump looks on at Manhattan Criminal Court during his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments linked to extramarital affairs in New York City on April 22, 2024. (ANGELA WEISS/Pool via REUTERS)

Merchan also imposed a gag order on the former president in his criminal trial. Bragg has argued that Trump has violated that order more than seven times already and wants him to pay a $1,000 fine per violation, while being warned that any future violations could be punishable with up to 30 days of incarceration. 

Merchan also said Bragg is able to refer to information from Carroll’s defamation case against Trump—specifically the finding that Trump “defamed” Carroll by allegedly making false statements. 

Justice Arthur Engoron presides over the civil fraud trial of the Trump Organization at the New York State Supreme Court in New York City on Nov. 13, 2023. (ERIN SCHAFF/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

A federal jury in January decided Trump must pay Carroll more than $83 million in damages after he denied allegations he raped her in the 1990s. 

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The jury decided Trump must pay $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.

New York Attorney General Letitia James arrives outside New York Supreme Court ahead of former President Trump’s civil business fraud trial on Monday, Oct. 2, 2023 in New York. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman)

A federal jury in New York City decided last year that Trump was not liable for rape, but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. The former president was ordered to pay $5 million in that trial.

E. Jean Carroll leaves court on Friday, Jan 26, 2024, in New York. A jury has awarded an additional $83.3 million to Carroll, who says former President Trump damaged her reputation by calling her a liar after she accused him of sexual assault. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Trump has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegation. His denial resulted in Carroll slapping Trump with a defamation lawsuit, claiming that his response caused harm to her reputation. 

The jury found Carroll was injured as a result of statements Trump made while in the White House in June 2019. 

Trump and his attorneys are also appealing that ruling. 

Trump defense attorneys on Friday said each piece of “evidence” Bragg’s team hopes to use are “just distractions.” 

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Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has been charged by Bragg with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree. The charges are related to alleged hush money payments made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. 

Former President Trump appears in court for opening statements in his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 22, 2024 in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all counts. He has blasted the trial as pure politics, a “political persecution” and maintains his innocence. 

The former president, the first ever to be a defendant in a criminal trial, vowed to “tell the truth” if he takes the stand.