Why is there no trial of Donald Trump on Friday, May 17? When will it resume?

Donald Trump’s trial centering on hush money paid to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, continued this week in New York. However, no proceedings have been planned for Friday, 17 May, because Donald Trump plans to attend his son Barron’s high school graduation in Florida. The case will resume on Monday.

The basic facts of the case

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of felony for allegedly falsifying business records to hide a series of payments to Daniels.

The money was supposedly meant to buy her silence on their alleged affair to avoid the matter from affecting the outcome of the 2016 presidential elections, where Trump was the Republican candidate and which he eventually won.

The former president denied all the allegations and filed unsuccessful appeals to delay the start of the trial.

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This week in the courtroom

This week, the court heard from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, who provided substantial evidence proving that he was directed by the former president to pay Ms. Clifford. Cohen also testified that during the 2016 campaign, he was in contact with media entrepreneur David Pecker who he made various deals, purchasing stories his outlet was going to publish that would have cast Donald Trump in a bad light. These included reports that the former president had fathered a child out of wedlock and had been involved romantically with various women. Additionally, as these reports were surfacing, other women were coming forward claiming that they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by Trump, and Cohen testified to how the campaign approached those very sensitive topics.