A crucial hearing awaits Donald Trump this Monday, the first stage of a risky week for the Republican candidate.
The former president, who aspires to return to the White House, is expected in court in New York for a long-scheduled hearing.
Originally intended to select the jury in the first of four criminal cases affecting Trump, the hearing could result in setting a trial date.
New York justice accuses Donald Trump of having entered in the accounts of his group the sum of 130,000 dollars to reimburse his former personal lawyer Michaël Cohen for the bribe he had paid to the actress of X-rated films Stormy Daniels so that she would keep quiet about the adulterous relationship she had briefly had with the tycoon.
And he continues to deny it.
Also read: Stormy Daniels gives her version of her alleged affair with Donald Trump
Trump's lawyers argue that the late submission of documents related to the case justifies dismissing the case or at least postponing it for three months.
The prosecutors believe that no new element justifies delaying the examination of the case.
New York judge Juan M. Merchan will have to decide.
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges, including campaign finance violations.
He became a key witness in the case.
This Monday is also the deadline set for Monday to obtain a bail of 454 million dollars in his civil fraud case, the only way to suspend a conviction which also prohibits Trump father and son from running their businesses in New York for three and two years.
Despite a large fundraising effort - Trump wanted a million donors - his lawyers have been announcing for weeks that it is impossible to raise that much money.
In a post Friday on Truth Social, his social media platform, Trump said he did nothing wrong.
He also claimed to have “nearly five hundred million dollars in cash”.
Failure to meet bail could lead New York Attorney General Letitia James to seize his assets, part of which is to be used to fund his election campaign leading up to the Republican convention.
In 2022, Trump reported at least $537 million in revenue related to his golf courses and hotels, $30.4 million in licensing fees and royalties, $26.5 million in management fees and 61 .1 million in distributions from its stake in buildings such as 1290 Avenue of the Americas, a New York tower located just steps from Trump Tower.