Donald Trump trial LIVE: Follow updates of the Stormy Daniels hush money case as jury selection begins

A heavy police presence was stationed around the Manhattan court on Monday morning awaiting Donald Trump's arrival.

The Secret Service and NYPD have been meeting for weeks to finalize logistics as the former president's legal circus returns to New York.

Protesters were already waiting outside and members of the media were lining up ready to enter the courthouse for jury selection.

Donald Trump ranted about the 'rigged trial' and 'crooked judge' hours before he was due to arrive in the Manhattan court for jury selection.

The former president took to his social media platform to say the Democrats and the 'radical left' for 'cheating' in the 2024 election by keeping him in court.

He also demanded an end to the trial and insisted the statute of limitations had passed in the case.

'I want my VOICE back. This Crooked Judge has GAGGED me,' he wrote.

'Unconstitutional! The other side can talk about me, but I am not allowed to talk about them! Rigged Trial!

'The Radical Left Democrats are already cheating on the 2024 Presidential Election by bringing, or helping to bring, all of these bogus lawsuits against me, thereby forcing me to sit in courthouses, and spend money that could be used for campaigning, instead of being out in the field knocking Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the History of the United States. Election Interference!'

'As virtually every legal scholar has powerfully stated, the Biden Manhattan Witch Hunt Case is, among other things, BARRED by the Statute of Limitations. This “trial” should be ended by the highly conflicted presiding Judge.'

Prospective jurors in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial will be asked over 42 questions ranging from their views on extremist groups Antifa and Q'Anon, to where they get their news, to whether they've ever attended political rallies for the former president.

The 77-year-old has pleaded not guilty to falsifying business records to help cover up an alleged affair with porn star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.

Jury selection begins a week from Monday on April 15, and is bound to kick off at least several days of intensive questioning for the individuals who will determine Trump's fate in the case.

Both sides of the case are under a ton of pressure to select a jury that will be perceived as fair - or else risk a mistrial down the line.

Judge Juan Merchan publicized a list of 42 questions he plans to quiz prospective jurors about to ensure an unbiased trial, including any connections they may have to the former president's political circles.

Of the 1.4 million adults who live in Manhattan, it will be almost impossible to find one who doesn't already have an opinion of Donald Trump.

But twelve of them will be chosen to ultimately decide his fate as the first former president to stand in a criminal trial that begins on Monday.

They will be picked from hundreds of eligible New York residents to sit for the historic case where Trump is accused of hiding a $130,000 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet about their alleged affair in 2006.

If found guilty by the group of his peers, he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison over a saga that started 18 years ago, and has seen wall-to-wall press coverage not just in the Big Apple but around the world.

Will it be impossible to find a dozen people who don't already have prejudicial view  of the presumptive Republican nominee for president? Experts who specialize in jury selection tell DailyMail.com it could be.

What started as a chance encounter at a charity golf tournament 18 years ago has turned into one of the biggest legal dramas in history.

On Monday, Donald Trump will become the first former president to face a criminal trial over a $130,000 hush-money payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels over their alleged affair.

The trial - set to last between six and eight weeks - will be full of bombshell testimony and drama that are the results of years of scandal.

Witnesses will testify about lurid allegations of hotel suite encounters, blockbuster TV interviews and backroom deals involving the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

The case revolves around the payment made to Daniels by Trump's then-fixer Michel Cohen ahead of the 2016 presidential election to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

She claims it occurred less than four months after Melania Trump gave birth to the couple's son , Barron.

Since then there have been legal twists and turns at every corner, while Trump has spent four years in the White House and is now in the middle of bid for another term.

Welcome to DailyMail.com's live coverage of Donald Trump's historic Manhattan trial, the first of four criminal cases he faces.

The forrmer president will be in the court to watch as 12 New York residents are chosen to be on the jury.

The 77-year-old has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to hide a $130,000 payment he made to porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up their alleged affair.

He has denied all the charges and strenuously rejects her claims they had a sexual encounter at a golf course in 2006.