Over the course of the next few weeks, Donald Trump will be joined at the defense table in the Manhattan courtroom with its wood paneling by a group of people who might appear in a Hollywood blockbuster. Opening explanations in the principal criminal preliminary of a previous US president were heard on Monday.
A number of intriguing potential witnesses are on the list, including an adult film actress, a star-turned-fixer, a devoted moneyman who was found guilty of tax fraud, and others.
The former president's defense team is led by a white-collar defense lawyer who has staked his entire career on defending him. In the mean time, Manhattan's most memorable dark lead prosecutor has gathered a break group of Manhattan examiners who are exceptionally acquainted with Mr Trump and his association.
What's more, the whole case is supervised by a carefully prepared New York Arbiter for the highest court who is very much aware of Mr Trump's court inconveniences and conduct.
Mr Trump has to deal with 34 penalties of misrepresenting business records to camouflage a quiet cash installment to a lady with whom he supposedly had an unsanctioned romance. He has denied having the affair and has pleaded not guilty. The key players in the historical case are listed below.
The New York judge
Justice Juan Merchan - the seasoned New York jurist - has previously spent time with Mr Trump in a Manhattan courtroom. He presided over the Trump Organization's tax fraud case that resulted in a hefty fine and jail time for the company's chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg.
Reuters File image of a court sketch of Justice Juan MerchanReuters
That means the judge is well acquainted with Mr Trump's orbit and his courtroom tactics to delay, deny and deflect. That behaviour will likely draw Justice Merchan's ire. While he may be soft-spoken, he has earned the reputation of being a no-nonsense jurist. He has already shut down Mr Trump once during jury selection.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has claimed on social media that "there has virtually never been a more conflicted judge than this one", and he has attacked Justice Merchan's daughter - who is employed by a firm that works with Democrats. Mr Trump has since been barred from speaking about the judge's family.
The Manhattan prosecutors
Alvin Bragg - the Manhattan district attorney - became the first black man to lead the Manhattan District Attorney's office when he was elected in November 2021. He took over the investigation into Mr Trump and announced that his office would bring felony charges against the former president last April.
Reuters File image of Alvin BraggReuters
Mr Bragg has adopted a novel legal theory that will turn a misdemeanour - falsifying business records - into a felony. He has alleged that Mr Trump changed the business records to cover up a second crime - the violation of New York campaign-finance laws. His office alleges that the Trump campaign sought to hide the affair from voters ahead of the 2016 election.
Legal experts have mixed views about whether the gambit will work, but Mr Bragg has pulled together an experienced team of prosecutors who are very familiar with Mr Trump to make the case.
Joshua Steinglass helped lead the prosecution of the Trump Organization, which led to a conviction, and was then added to this team. Mr Steinglass, who will direct the prosecutors' efforts at trial, has previously tried high-profile murder and manslaughter cases and other violent crimes.
The prosecution team also includes Susan Hoffinger, the chief of the office's investigations division who previously worked on the Trump Organization tax case; Christopher Conroy, who has worked on the investigations of Mr Trump the longest; and Rebecca Mangold, a prosecutor who specialises in economic crimes.
The former president's defence team
Getty Images File image of Donald Trump appearing with his legal team Todd Blanche, Emil Bove, and Susan Necheles ahead of the start of jury selection at Manhattan Criminal Court on 15 April
Todd Blanche - Trump's top trial lawyer - was a former federal prosecutor, registered Democrat and a New York City resident, but he has tossed that all aside. Mr Blanche left a lucrative position as a partner at a Wall Street law firm, became a Republican and moved to Florida to take on the biggest client of his career - Mr Trump.
Once a colleague of Alvin Bragg, the lawyer prosecuting the former president, Mr Blanche will now be sitting on the other side of the courtroom from him. It will only be for the second time. He has only served as a defence attorney in one other criminal case that went to trial.
Susan Necheles - Trump lawyer - has represented Mr Trump in cases since 2021, but she has a long history of defending troubled politicians, real-estate developers and organised-crime figures - such as Venero Mangano, an underboss of the Genovese crime family with the nickname Benny Eggs. She represented the Trump Organization when it was convicted of criminal tax fraud and given a $1.6 million fine in December 2022.
Gedalia Stern, a partner in Ms Necheles law firm, and Emil Bove, a former federal prosecutor, are also on Mr Trump's defence team.
The potential witnesses
Stormy Daniels - the adult film star - says she met Mr Trump in 2006 at a celebrity golf tournament in Nevada. Ms Daniels - real name Stephanie Clifford - was 27 years old at the time, and a rising star in the adult film industry. She claims that Mr Trump propositioned her, and the two had sex soon after their introduction.
Mr Trump denies the encounter happened, but Ms Daniels alleges that a $130,000 (£105,000) hush-money payment she received from Michael Cohen - a lawyer for the Trump Organization - just before the 2016 election was to keep her silent about the affair.
Who is Stormy Daniels, and what happened with Donald Trump?
She has become a frequent target of Mr. Trump and his allies since her allegations became public, but she has stated that she will testify against the former president.
In 2006, the fixer, Michael Cohen, began working as Mr. Trump's personal attorney. He confessed to government crusade finance violations in 2018 over making the quiet cash installment to Ms Daniels, yet he keeps up with that he sent the cash at Mr Trump's bearing.
He claims that the former president reimbursed Mr. Cohen through a series of payments that were recorded as legal expenses in an effort to conceal the scheme and avoid controversy. Mr. Trump's legal team has attempted to block Mr. Cohen's testimony after he called his former confidant a liar.
Mr. Cohen once stated that he would risk his life for the former president. However, in later investigations of Mr. Trump, he became an important witness, including Robert Mueller's investigation into claims that the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin.
Allen Weisselberg - the indicted cash man - will be a normal element of the criminal preliminary, however he is probably not going to affirm. Mr. Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's former chief financial officer, allegedly helped cover up the hush-money payment and arranged for Mr. Trump to repay it.
Mr. Weisselberg is familiar with the legal issues that the former president faces. The executive of the Trump Organization entered a guilty plea to tax fraud, record falsification, and other offenses in August 2022. During the Manhattan district attorney's investigation of the Trump Organization, the charges were brought.
Getty Pictures Document picture of Allen WeisselbergAs a piece of his supplication bargain, he served 100 days in jail, and he likewise consented to affirm in the continuous body of evidence against Mr Trump's organization. He later testified against Mr. Trump in the civil trial in New York, but he would soon have to plead guilty to two counts of lying under oath. On April 10, he received a new five-month prison sentence.
David Pecker - the tabloid publisher - is former CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the parent company of the National Enquirer. When he led that tabloid, he pursued a practice known as "catch-and-kill" to support Mr Trump's 2016 presidential run. He did this by buying the rights to stories that cast Mr Trump in a bad light. He would then decline to publish them, which effectively suppressed the damaging information. He was the trial's first witness.
The Playboy model Karen McDougal asserts that Mr. Trump had an illegal illicit relationship with her in 2006 and 2007, which the previous president also denies. She says she was paid $150,000 by American Media Inc, the parent association of the Public Enquirer, for her story. She was compelled to conceal the alleged affair.
Dino Sajudin - the former Trump Tower doorman - could also take the stand. Mr Trump's team allegedly paid him hush-money as well, after he tried to sell a story to the National Enquirer about an unsubstantiated rumour that Mr Trump once fathered a child out of wedlock.
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