Donald Trump makes history with "the silence of a porn actress"

Former US President Donald Trump made history on Monday, after he became the first former president in the country's history to be put on trial on criminal charges in the case of "buying the silence" of a pornographic actress.

Trump's trial will begin later today in a Manhattan court, which is scheduled to last four days a week, for six weeks or more.

The Republican candidate will sit face to face in a room with 12 New Yorkers (the jury) who will decide whether to make Trump a convicted felon before he appears before voters next November.

The beginning of jury selection represents a historic moment in Trump's intertwined political and legal campaigns, as the former president's criminal cases have become an inherent component of his third attempt to reach the White House.

But of the four criminal indictments against Trump, it was the “buying silence” case that jumped to the forefront, and the one in which legal observers agree he faces the least serious charges. It remains unclear whether any of the former president's other indictments will reach the jury this year.

Trump faces 34 minor criminal charges of falsifying business records in connection with his compensation to his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, for his $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in October 2016 in exchange for remaining silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.

No cameras will document the trial session, except for a small group of photographers who are allowed to quickly take some shots every morning after Trump enters.

Each time he enters or exits the back of the courtroom, the former president will be able to speak to cameras in the hallway as he did during his civil fraud trial late last year, which served as a practical training exercise for how his criminal trial will proceed.