In his article, Prof. David Schultz, visiting professor at MRU and member of the MRU LAB Justice Research Laboratory.

Barring any last minute legal maneuvers, US President Donald Trump's first criminal trial will start in New York City on April 15. This is the first of what could be many trials that Donald Trump faces this year with each of those trials posing threats and challenges to Trump's efforts to get reelected in 2024.
 
The April 15 trial will be sensational. It will be the first time a former US president has ever faced a criminal trial. In this case, the allegations are regarding efforts by Donald Trump in 2016 to make secret payoffs to adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to silence her. The fear in 2016 was that were she to go public about the sexual relationship she had with Donald Trump it could have damaged his presidential campaign and election. The argument by New York City prosecutors is that the payouts that Donald Trump made through his business were not disclosed and constituted a form of business fraud under New York state law.
 
Because this trial is the first of Trump's, it will attract a lot of attention, but also because it brings with it stories of a sex scandal. Many consider this trial to be the weakest of the four that Donald Trump faces. But nonetheless, it is the first and it is a significant one. Trump has tried to delay this trial in the same way that he's tried to delay other trials.
 
He faces criminal indictments in Washington DC for events surrounding the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021. He faces a trial in Florida in federal court surrounding his retention of secret documents at his residence at the Mar-a-Lago. And he faces a state level trial in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. For efforts to try to overturn the election there.  He faces 86 criminal charges. Trump has done his best to delay these trials.. He has argued that he enjoys absolute presidential immunity from any prosecution. On April 25, the US Supreme Court will hear arguments regarding that Trump's hope has been to either dismiss all the cases, have the Supreme Court declare he cannot  be tried, or simply to push the trials beyond the November 5, 2024, election.
 
Trump's fear is that a criminal conviction could be enough to change the minds of enough voters to alter the dimension of the presidential election. There are polls suggesting that in excess of 30% of undecided voters or voters leaning to the Trump would switch their vote were  he criminally convicted.
 
Across the country and in the critical five or six swing states that will decide the election this could be enough to change the dimension and direction of the campaign. Democrats and Joe Biden are counting on abortion politics and Trump’s criminal convictions to sway the election in their favor. Right now, the election is too close to call. But with Trump having a slight advantage the trials of Trump should have a significant impact on the election. And despite Trump's efforts to delay what it looks like now is that his strategy may very well put these trials closer to the election with a greater likelihood they could have even a greater impact than previously envisioned.