Facing simultaneous hearings, Trump chooses to attend arguments in hush money case

Facing simultaneous hearings Thursday in New York and Georgia, Trump has chosen to attend arguments in his criminal hush money case in Manhattan.

When Donald Trump first entered a Manhattan courtroom last April for his arraignment on hush money charges, the moment was historic for the country and novel for the former president.

But in the year that followed, Trump faced four additional indictments and spent about three weeks in New York courtrooms to attend his civil trials -- pleading not guilty to all charges in each case. The unprecedented became the norm for a former president simultaneously fighting multiple criminal cases while vying for the presidency.

Trump plans to return to that same New York courtroom on Thursday for the final scheduled hearing before he goes to trial in March 25 for what prosecutors allege was a "an expansive and corrupt criminal scheme" to conceal information from voters ahead of the 2016 election.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, alleging that Trump falsified Trump Organization records to hide payments he made to his former lawyer Michael Cohen, who allegedly used the money to kill stories about Trump's long-denied extramarital affairs with Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal just days before the 2016 election.