Key points in Donald Trump's hush money trial

Opening statements Monday in the former U.S. president's first criminal trial provided a clear picture of how prosecutors will try to prove that Donald Trump broke the law and how the defense will fight the charges on many fronts. A roadmap was shown.

Lawyers say jurors get their first look at prosecutors accusing President Trump of falsifying business records as part of a plan to suppress negative publicity about him during the 2016 presidential campaign. Presented the story of a duel.

Dramatic and embarrassing testimony about his private life is expected to be released over the coming weeks as he seeks to return to the White House in November.

Let's look at some key points from the opening statement.

Election violation vs. “bookkeeping” case

Trump has been charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal business records at the Trump Organization. But prosecutors made it clear they didn't want jurors to see this as a routine paper case. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said the crux of the case was a plan by President Trump to “corrupt” the 2016 election by silencing people who came forward with embarrassing stories that he feared would damage his campaign. Stated.

“No politician wants bad press,” Colangelo said. “But the evidence at trial will show that this is not a spin or a communication strategy. This is an attempt to influence the 2016 election and silence people who have anything bad to say about Donald Trump's actions.” “This was a planned, orchestrated, long-term conspiracy to help Trump win the election through illegal spending,” he added. “This was election fraud, pure and simple.”

The business records charges stem from invoices and checks that were considered legal expenses in the Trump Organization's records, but prosecutors say they were for $130,000 in hush money paid to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Prosecutors allege that the money was paid to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen. Ms. Daniels had claimed that she had had an extramarital sexual relationship with Mr. Trump and had threatened to make it public. He says that never happened.

The prosecutor's characterization comes after some experts say the case – likely the only one to go to trial before the November election – is less serious than the other three charges he faces. It seems like it's meant to be counter-intuitive. The lawsuits accuse Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 election he lost to President Joe Biden and of illegally storing his classified documents after leaving the White House.

President Trump, meanwhile, tried to downplay the charges as he left court on Monday, saying the whole thing was a “paperwork” incident and “a very minor thing.” But he also says it's all about the election, this November's election. President Trump has repeatedly claimed that the incident is part of a broader attempt by Democrats to hurt his chances of regaining the presidency.

Trump's defense appears

Trump's lawyers used their opening statements to attack the case as baseless, saying the former president had done nothing illegal.

Attorney Todd Blanche disputed prosecutors' claims that Trump agreed to make campaign payments to Daniels, saying Trump was trying to “protect his family, reputation and brand.”

Blanche suggested that, ultimately, the defense will argue that the essence of a presidential campaign is to try to influence an election.

“It's called democracy,” Blanche told jurors. “They put something sinister on this idea, as if it were a crime. You'll see it's not.”

Blanche also portrayed the bookkeeping at issue in the case as a formality carried out by Trump Organization employees. Blanche said Trump “had nothing to do with false business records other than signing checks at the White House while running the country.” And because Cohen was Trump's personal attorney at the time, he argued that references to legal fees in the record were not false.

Prosecutors aim to make Trump the central figure

Thirty-four charges in the indictment relate to payments to Mr. Daniels. But prosecutors also said another woman who claimed to have had sexual contact with Trump, former Playboy model Karen McDougal, and a doorman at Trump Tower who claimed to have a story about Trump's out-of-wedlock birth. He plans to submit evidence regarding remuneration. President Trump claims they were all lies.

Prosecutors said they would prove that Mr. Trump was at the center of the scheme to silence the women, and that jurors would hear Mr. Trump talk about the payment plan to Mr. McDougal. Cohen arranged with the publisher of the National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid, to pay McDougal $150,000 but not to publish the story in a technique known as “catch-and-kill.”

Mr. Colangelo told jurors that prosecutors would play a recording that Mr. Cohen secretly made during a meeting with President Trump in the weeks before the 2016 election. In the recording, first released in 2018, President Trump can be heard saying: One-fifty? ”

Colangelo said President Trump “desperately did not want this information about Karen McDougal to become public because he was concerned about the impact it would have on the election.”

Mr. Cohen's credibility attracts attention

The defense's opening statement foreshadowed what would become a key defense strategy. It was an attempt to discredit Mr. Cohen, a Trump supporter turned critic who was expected to be the prosecution's star witness. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to a federal case related to hush money payments and served time in prison.

Jurors could decide whether they believe Cohen, who claims he arranged payments to the women at Trump's direction, in Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office's case.

Mr. Trump's lawyers highlighted Mr. Cohen's criminal history and described him as a serial liar who turned against Mr. Trump after he was denied a job in the administration and fell into legal trouble. Blanche said Cohen's “entire financial livelihood depends on Trump's destruction” and that Cohen is a podcast host and author of a book bashing his former boss. pointed out.

“He has a goal and a tenacity to get Trump,” Branch said. “I swear he can't be trusted.”

Anticipating defense attacks on Cohen, prosecutors promised to be candid about the “mistakes” made by the former Trump lawyer. However, Colangelo said that despite his past, “I can trust Michael Cohen's testimony.”

“I think the defense will do everything they can to get you to refuse, precisely because the testimony is so damning,” the prosecutor said.

But first is David Pecker

Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker becomes the prosecution's first witness, revealing that Trump's alleged plan to hide damaging information from voters was revealed in 2015 by then-candidate Pecker and Cohen. The incident reportedly began with a meeting between the two at Trump Tower. Pecker took the stand Monday before the day's court session, and his testimony is expected to continue Tuesday.

In the meeting, Mr. Pecker, a longtime friend of Mr. Trump, published stories favorable to Mr. Trump, smeared his opponents, spied on unconventional stories about Mr. Trump, and struck “catch-and-kill” deals with Cohen. They agreed to help Trump's campaign by reporting to him. Prosecutors said that included claims from Daniels, McDougall and former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin. President Trump claims it was all a lie.

Mr. Pecker will likely be questioned about all of the allegations made on Mr. Trump's behalf by the Enquirer's then-owner American Media. In 2018, federal prosecutors agreed not to indict American Media in exchange for cooperation in the campaign finance investigation that led to Cohen's guilty plea, and the Federal Election Commission issued a “prohibited'' order to deal with McDougal. The company was fined $187,500 for “corporate in-kind donations.” ”

Pecker's brief on-stage remarks Monday were mostly about his career and other basic facts, but he did note that the Enquirer does “checkbook journalism” (paying for stories). ) and said that he has the final say on any article about a celebrity.

“Defendant” or “President Trump”?

Prosecutors referred to Trump as “the defendant” in their opening statements. Trump's lawyer took a different stance, calling him “President Trump.”

“We will refer to him as President Trump in honor of the office he held,” Branch said. At the same time, Trump's lawyers sought to portray him as a regular person, describing him as his husband, father and fellow New Yorker.

“He's a larger-than-life figure in some ways,” Blanche said. “But he's also in this courtroom doing what any of us would do: protect ourselves.” Ta.

Mr. Trump sat quietly and listened to opening statements, occasionally passing notes to his lawyers or whispering in their ears. But outside of the courtroom, he continued a pattern of trying to politicize the case, which requires him to spend his days in court rather than on the campaign trail.

“This is why they're trying to get me off the road. Checks are being paid to lawyers,” President Trump said.