Trump is about to face trial on criminal hush money charges. Here's what to know

Donald Trump has used every legal tool at his disposal to try to dismiss, diminish or delay the four active criminal cases against him.

But on Monday, barring a last-minute court intervention, Trump will become the first former president ever to be tried on felony charges.

The trial in New York Supreme Court centers on allegations that Trump falsified business records as part of a scheme to conceal a $130,000 hush money payment in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had an extramarital affair with Trump years earlier.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg accuses Trump of using a "catch and kill" tactic to hide damaging information from voters ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

This case may be the only one of Trump's 88 criminal charges across four separate cases to make it to trial before the Nov. 5 presidential election.

If he is convicted in this case, the 77-year-old ex-president could be sentenced to serve time at New York's notorious Rikers Island jail complex or in a state prison.

Here's what to know about the historic trial:

Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree.

Under New York law, a person is guilty of that crime when their records are falsified with the intent to commit or conceal another crime.

The D.A. alleges Trump and others violated election laws in order to carry out an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 election, by buying and suppressing negative information about him.

Central to Bragg's case is Michael Cohen, Trump's former personal attorney. In 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges related to hush money payments made to two women before the 2016 election.

Cohen is expected to be a key witness in the trial, where he will say