by Donald Trump unloaded reporters and news cameras for nine minutes from the doors of a courtroom, where jurors were assembled for the first time to hear the first criminal trial of an American president.
“It’s very unfair what’s going on and I should be allowed to campaign,” he said at the courthouse on Monday. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”
The former president has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records as part of what prosecutors called a “criminal conspiracy” to bury politically damaging stories about his alleged affairs by paying off publishers, as part of a plan month to attract voters ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
After four days of jury selection last week, the trial began on the 15th floor of a New York criminal courtroom on Monday with opening statements outlining Mr. Trump’s alleged plot to illegally influence the outcome. the election.
Jurors also heard from the trial’s first witness: David Pecker, former CEO of American Media In, which publishes the supermarket tabloid National Enquirer.
The first words from Manhattan assistant district attorney Matthew Colangelo emphasized the measure of the case against the former president.
“This case involves criminal conspiracy and cover-up,” he said. “Defendant Donald Trump directed a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. He then covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his business records, over and over again.”
The former president, who sank into his chair and stared straight ahead during the prosecution’s opening statements, is accused of drawing up an agreement for a “catch and kill” scheme in 2015 with the help of his attorney at the time, Michael Cohen and National Enquirer publisher David Pecker – an alleged plot central to the so-called hush money case is at the center of the 34 criminal charges facing the former president, according to prosecutors.
“No politician wants bad press. But the trial evidence will show that this is not a spin or a communication strategy,” Mr. Colangelo said. “It was a planned, coordinated conspiracy over a long period of time … it was electoral fraud. Clean and simple.”
The trial was adjourned early for Passover. It will continue on Tuesday morning, when prosecutors claim that New York Judge Juan Merchan will execute the gag order of the trial against the former president for repeatedly attacking witnesses on his Truth Social.
The case of Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg is the first of four criminal cases Mr. Trump has gone to trial, and is likely to be the Republican nominee’s only criminal trial before the November general election.
Prosecutors have based the case on a simple story – her former attorney paid $130,000 to the adult movie star Stormy Daniels to prevent her from speaking publicly about her relationship with Mr. Trump, who has denied ever having sex with her. Prosecutors allege that Mr. Trump’s reimbursements were disguised as legal fees across 34 business records — 11 invoices, 11 checks, and 12 ledger entries.
Jurors hear why Trump campaign was in ‘damage control mode’
Prosecutors plan to detail a month-long “catch and kill” deal – in which the National Enquirera publishing company would buy potentially politically damaging stories and promote positive ones to Mr. Trump’s campaign, all before the so-called release of the story. Come on Hollywood tape just a month before Election Day.
Mr Trump’s campaign “immediately went into damage control mode” to ensure other allegations against the Republican nominee – including allegations that Mr Trump had an affair with Mr Daniels years earlier – did not see the light of day, he said Mr. Colangelo.
“Get out of the noise. Focus on the facts,” he told jurors. “Focus on the logical conclusions that follow from those facts. Focus on the evidence, listen to the evidence, read the documents, emails, text messages, bank statements, handwritten notes, all of it.”
After the trial, when prosecutors return to the jurors for closing arguments after reviewing that evidence, it all boils down to one conclusion: Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first step,” said Mr. Colangelo. .
Trump’s attorneys argue that he ‘fought back’ to protect his reputation
Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s lead attorney in the case, argued that “there is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election.”
“It’s called democracy,” he said in his opening remarks on Monday.
A series of payments to Mr. Cohen in 2017 were merely payments with a retainer agreement for legal services, according to Mr. Blanche. “What in the world is a crime? What is a crime about what I just described?” he said.
The 34 counts against his client are “really just 34 pieces of paper,” including invoices, checks, and ledger entries from invoices that said “with a retainer agreement for legal services,” according to Mr. Blanche.
“This is not a crime,” he said.
Any attempts to suppress politically damaging information that were intended to “embarrass” Mr Trump and his family, during a period when “all kinds of bitter allegations were being thrown around” about him, have sought to said Mr. Blanche.
“President Trump fought back” to “protect his reputation, his family, his brand,” he said.
The defense is focused on Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen
The defense will also try to undermine testimony from Mr. Cohen and Mr. Daniels, who it says have “no idea” or “no knowledge” of the invoices, checks and ledger notes in the indictment. Mrs. Blanche.
“Her testimony, even though she’s slanderous, doesn’t matter,” he told jurors.
However, Mr Blanche acknowledged that Mr Daniels signed a non-disclosure agreement in October 2016 in exchange for $130,000, but Mr Trump’s repayments to Mr Cohen – who is accused of paying Mr Daniels for his silence – as “payback” .
Such an agreement was a “genuinely legal” way to avoid the “embarrassment” of Mr Trump, who has denied an affair.
As for Mr. Trump’s former attorney, close ally turned nemesis: “He can’t be trusted,” said Mr. Blanche.
“He laughs and makes fun of President Trump,” he said. “He criticizes President Trump. He talks extensively about his desire to see President Trump go to prison. He has said a lot about his desire to see President Trump’s family go to prison.”
His “financial livelihood depends on the destruction of President Trump,” according to Ms. Blanche.
Jurors hear the realities of checkbook journalism
David Pecker – the former player for a long time National Enquirer publisher and the trial’s first witness – explained a concept he called “checkbook journalism”, in which editors could spend up to $10,000 to investigate, produce or publish a story, a tabloid operation that separates such publications from companies another medium. Anything above that spending limit would have to be checked for approval, he said.
“The only thing that matters is the cover of the magazine,” jurors heard from Mr Pecker, who explained that he would be involved from the concept to the cost of each story. He also confirmed that the publication’s editor-in-chief at the time, Dylan Howard – who has been accused of telling Mr Trump about the Stormy Daniels story – would “play” him stories.
Mr. Pecker also told jurors that he kept two email accounts, one for regular business and one for sensitive material that his assistant would not be able to see.
Mr. Pecker was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony.
He confirmed that her appearance is pending and that her attorney was present.
