WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – In a historic moment, former president Donald Trump went on trial in New York Monday.

He’s facing charges related to alleged hush money payments made ahead of the 2016 election.

Donald Trump is the first former president to stand trial in a criminal case and this is the first of his four criminal indictments to go to trial.

Inside a Manhattan courtroom Trump glared at the camera as the trial against him began.

“This is an assault on America. Nothing like this has ever happened before,” said Trump.

 The case centers on accusations that the former president illegally falsified business records.

Prosecutors say he was trying to cover up hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.

“This case is nonsense, it should have never been brought,” said Trump.

On Monday the case kicked off with jury selection.  The court is expected to spend days working to pick 12 jurors and 6 alternates from a group of 500 people.

“Probably the hardest part for the lawyers here is weeding out you know, who’s going to be the most fair type of juror,” said New York trial attorney Arthur Aidala.

New York trial attorney Arthur Aidala says Trump’s notoriety makes that a challenge.

“Everybody’s probably going to come in here with some kind of preconceived notions,” Aidala said.

The former president is required to be in court four days a week for the trial which complicates his schedule as he campaigns for re-election.

“This is political persecution. This is a persecution like never before. Nobody’s ever seen anything like it,” said Trump.

The trial is expected to last anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks.