Photo: CNN

On Monday, the first of Donald Trump’s criminal trials began with jury selection in Manhattan.

The 34 felony charges of falsification of business records concern Trump’s $130,000 payoff in October 2016 to adult film star Stormy Daniels, buying her silence over their sexual encounters in 2006. The prosecution argues that this constituted interference in the Presidential vote weeks later.

I joined Monocle Radio and BBC Radio Scotland on Tuesday morning to set out the issues in the trial, and to consider its legal and political consequences for Trump and for the 2024 Presidential campaign.

Listen to Monocle Radio from 14:02

Listen to BBC Radio Scotland from 2:36.38

In a 6-minute analysis, I knock back the Trump argument of “witch hunt” and examine the relationship with the other criminal cases.

You have to let the legal system operate. You don’t put your thumb on the scale and say, “Let politics determine this.”