Closing summary
Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels began in earnest on Monday, with lawyers for both sides making their opening statements.
A jury of seven men and five women will weigh whether Trump’s alleged efforts to conceal an affair with Daniels, which he feared would damage his bid for the White House, were illicit. Trump was charged in the spring of 2023 with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.
Here are the key takeaways from opening statements on Monday. To recap what happened today:
The prosecution said Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election” in his efforts to cover up an alleged affair with Daniels.
The prosecution called its first witness to the stand: David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer and a man at the heart of Trump’s alleged crimes.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors that Trump, his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and Pecker hatched a plan to keep damaging information about Trump out of the press. Colangelo said this “catch-and-kill” campaign was geared towards helping Trump’s 2016 election campaign. He mentioned an earlier payment to Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Trump.
The prosecutor also read out a transcript of Trump’s infamous comments on the set of the Access Hollywood television show, where Trump bragged he could sexually assault women because he was famous, and noted that the video was released to the public in October 2016, one month before election day.
The defense argued that “there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election – it’s called democracy”.
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said Trump “is innocent” and made an effort to humanize Trump, while also repeatedly calling him “President Trump”.
Blanche argued that Trump was unaware about the specifics of the hush-money payments because he left it all to Cohen. Trump had nothing to do with the 34 checks other than to sign them, Blanche said.
Trump, who has appeared mostly dour throughout the proceedings and fell asleep briefly at several points last week, looked very attentive to and focused on Pecker’s testimony.
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Donald Trump was confronted on Monday with the unsavory details of his alleged attempt to illegally influence the 2016 election by covering up his hush-money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, as the first criminal trial for a former US president got under way in New York.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records – where the hush-money payments were recorded as legal expenses – to cover up the affair just weeks before the election.
Donald Trump spoke to the media after court was adjourned for the day, where he complained that the hush-money case is “a case of bookkeeping, which is a very minor thing”. He said:
I’m the leading candidate ... and this is what they’re trying to take me off the trail for. Checks being paid to a lawyer.
Trump attacked Michael Cohen, claiming that the things Cohen got in trouble for “had nothing to do with me”. He said:
[Cohen] represented a lot of people over the years but they take this payment and they call it a legal expense ... and this is what I got indicted over.
The former president said he should be campaigning in Georgia, Florida and other places and instead “I’m sitting here and this will go on for a long time,” adding:
It’s very unfair what’s going on and I should be allowed to campaign.
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No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom during Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, but courtroom sketches mean we are able to get a glimpse of proceedings.
Trump lawyer Alina Habba spoke to reporters a little while earlier as the court took a short recess, where she called the former president’s trials a “disgrace to the American judicial system”, per pool.
Habba, flanked by Christopher Kise and Clifford Robert, said:
The fact that we have two courts not one, criminal and civil, being used against one man because they cannot beat him in the polls is a disgrace to the American judicial system. You should not have two teams of lawyers here today. You should not even be here today, because you didn’t know is the epitome of a witch-hunt.
She did not take any questions.
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The defense team and prosecutors are still in the courtroom after jurors left.
Lawyers on both sides are squabbling over various objections.
Court adjourns
David Pecker has completed his testimony for the day and is dismissed from the stand. He is expected to return tomorrow.
The jury is slowly filing out.
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Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked David Pecker: if the story was big or involved a major figure, would he have final say?
“Yes, I did,” the former publisher said.
The prosecution now appears poised to use Pecker’s testimony for documentary evidence in relation to the conspiracy.
Steinglass asked Pecker to tell jurors what the last four digits of several phone numbers that he used around election time.
When Pecker had trouble remembering one, Steinglass joked, “This isn’t a quiz!” Pecker cackled.
Donald Trump is very attentive to and focused on David Pecker’s testimony.
He has been conferring both with his lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, in between watching Pecker on the monitor in front of him.
Trump has also started to take notes on the yellow legal pad in front of hm.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is trying to establish that David Pecker had the power as head of AMI to control coverage – which will help him later on as the prosecution tries to prove that Pecker was integral to the catch-and-kill conspiracy. Pecker said:
We used checkbook journalism and we paid for stories. I gave a number to the editors that they could not spend more than $10,000 to investigate or produce or publish a story, anything over $10,000 they would spend on a story, they would have to be vetted and brought up to me, for approval.
Did he have final editorial say, Steinglass pressed. Pecker replied:
Being in the publishing industry for 40 years, I realized early in my career that the only thing that was important is the cover of a magazine, so when the editors produced the story or prepared a cover, we would have a meeting and they would present to me what the story would be, what the concept was, what the cost was going to be.
Right now, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is going through preliminary information, establish who David Pecker is, and why he matters.
This is normally when witnesses first take the stand.
What kind of work do you do? Consulting.
What did you used to do? Pecker said he chaired AMI. The company had titles such as the National Enquirer and The Globe, he said.
Who is David Pecker?
David Pecker was a key Trump ally who served as the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer.
Pecker helped Trump by purchasing the rights to potentially damaging stories and then never publishing them, a practice known as “catch and kill”. In 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at Trump Tower, who was trying to sell a story that Trump had allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock.
In June of 2016, AMI paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, $150,000 to suppress a story about an affair. AMI bought the story with the understanding that Trump would reimburse them, according to the indictment. Michael Cohen would later release a tape of him and Trump discussing repaying Pecker.
In 2016, Dylan Howard, then the editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, alerted Pecker that Daniels had potentially damaging information about Trump, according to the indictment. Pecker advised Howard to reach out to Cohen, and Cohen subsequently negotiated the deal with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer.
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Prosecution calls first witness: David Pecker
And we’re off to the races. Judge Juan Merchan directs prosecution to call first witness. “The people call David Pecker.”
Pecker, with his silvery hair slicked back, sporting a slate suit and a yellow tie, walked to the witness stand.
He was instructed to raise his right hand while being sworn in and when he was directed to stand in a different direction, offered a smile. He’s seated at the stand.
Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just said “good afternoon, Mr Pecker,” to which he replied, “Good afternoon.”
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Anti-Trump protesters and supporters of the former president gathered outside the Manhattan courthouse on the first day of opening statements in his hush-money criminal trial.
Police had discussed the possibility of closing the park across the street after a man set himself on fire there last week, but it remained open to the public today.
Donald Trump raised his fist and did not speak to reporters as he left the courtroom after opening statements, per pool.
The court is taking a short 10-minute recess.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche also insisted that catch-and-kills are legally OK. “There’s nothing illegal about a scheme,” Blanche said, insisting nothing was legally untoward with what purportedly went down between Trump, Michael Cohen and David Pecker.
“This sort of things happens regularly, where newspapers [make] decisions about what to publish, where to publish, how to publish,” Blanche said.
It happens with politicians, famous people, wealthy people …
Blanche’s opening statement has ended. We have a brief break.
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Trump lawyer Todd Blanche has been hammering down on the prosecution’s expected star witnesses: Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels.
Cohen, Blanche said, was incredibly loyal to his then-boss. He wanted a job in his administration and didn’t get one. Blanche said:
He’s obsessed with President Trump – he’s obsessed with President Trump, even to this day.
So much so that Cohen has multiple podcasts over Trump and routinely waxes enthusiastic about the possibility of his former boss’s conviction. Cohen, he noted, was found to have lied under oath, further undermining his reliability.
As for Daniels? She had “made a life” off of her alleged liaison with Trump, Blanche said. But, in the end, her role here was immaterial.
It doesn’t matter. What I mean by that is, I expect you will learn that Ms Daniels doesn’t have any idea. She doesn’t know anything about the charge, 34 counts in this case. She has no idea what Michael Cohen wrote on the invoice ... her testimony, while salacious, does not matter.
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As for Stormy Daniels wanting to come forward with her alleged affair with Trump, and his decision to address it, Trump lawyer Todd Blanche defended his doing so, leaning hard into the everyman motif yet again – that Trump was just a man who wanted to protect his loved ones.
It was sinister, and it was an attempt to try to embarrass President Trump, to embarrass his family, because as the people alluded to at that time, there were all kinds of salacious allegations going around about President Trump, and it was damaging to him and it was damaging to his family.
Blanche also said:
You will hear during this trial President Trump fought back – like he always does – like he’s entitled to do to protect his family, his reputation, and his brand – that is not a crime.
Trump lawyer Todd Blanche then downplayed prosecutors’ theory of the case. He said:
I have a spoiler alert: there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election, it’s called democracy.
Prosecutors, he said, “They put something sinister on this idea, as if it was a crime. You’ll learn: it’s not.”
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Trump lawyer argues 'there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election'
Trump lead lawyer Todd Blanche’s defense opening statement to the jury appears to be that Trump was unaware about the specifics of the hush-money payments because Trump left it all to his ex-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.
Trump had nothing to do with the 34 checks other than to sign them, Blanche says. Trump had nothing to do with generating the checks or the allegedly falsified entries on the Trump Organization ledger, he says.
Blanche adds that there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence the 2016 election: “It’s called democracy.” And that’s the other thrust of Trump’s defense:
Entering into a non-disclosure agreement is perfectly legal; companies do that all the time.
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Defense begins opening statement: 'President Trump is innocent'
And now it’s the defense’s turn.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche is telling jurors:
President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan district attorney should never have brought this case.
Blanche is trying hard to humanize Trump, while also repeatedly calling him “President Trump”. It’s an odd balance to strike – trying to portray him as a normal guy, but also the former commander-in-chief.
President Trump, you’ve seen him, of course, for years and years and years … He’s, in some ways, larger than life. But he’s also here in this courtroom doing what any of us would do – defending himself.
As for why they’re using “President” for a man who’s no longer in the White House?
This is a title that he has earned, because he was our 45th president. We will call him President Trump, out of respect for the office that he held from 2017 to 2021.
Blanche, shortly thereafter, said: “He’s also a man, he’s a husband, he’s a father, he’s a person who’s just like you and just like me.”
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Who are the key players in the hush-money trial?
Here’s a look at some of the people who are likely to play a key role in the case.
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Manhattan DA Matthew Colangelo also used Trump’s purported cheapness as evidence of motive.
Michael Cohen paid $130,000 in the Daniels payoff. But, he was ultimately repaid $420,000. Per Colangelo, Cohen and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg had met to discuss how Cohen would get repaid. They added $50,000 to the tab for “tech services” Cohen paid for during the campaign, and then doubled that sum “to account for taxes”.
The final amount Trump ultimately paid effectively showed that Trump knew his payoff was wrong. Colangelo said:
Donald Trump was a very frugal businessman. He believed in pinching pennies … He believed in negotiating every bill.
With Cohen, Colangelo emphasized, Trump did not hold back money.
Donald Trump’s willingness to do so here shows just how important it was to hide the true nature of Cohen’s [payment] to Ms Daniels and the overall election conspiracy they had launched in August of 2015.
Prosecution: 'It was election fraud, pure and simple'
Manhattan DA Matthew Colangelo said:
Look, no politician wants bad press, but the evidence at trial will show that this wasn’t spin or communication strategy. This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures – to silence people with something bad to say about his behavior.
He added:
It was election fraud, pure and simple.
Colangelo said “we’ll never know” whether this conspiracy made the difference “in a close election”.
While Colangelo is sticking to the facts, his word choice is keeping things interesting – which, admittedly, can be hard in a record about allegedly illicit financial records.
Among the entertaining quips was when he described a meeting between Michael Cohen and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg – who pleaded guilty – to discuss how his ex-lawyer would be repaid.
Neither Trump nor the Trump Organization could just write a check to Cohen for $130,000 with a memo line that said ‘reimbursement for porn star payoff’ – they had to disguise the nature of the repayment, so they agreed to cook the books and make it look like the repayment was actually income.
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“The campaign went into immediate damage control mode,” Manhattan DA Matthew Colangelo said.
The campaign quickly framed it as “locker room talk”, but not action.
Hence the danger of Stormy Daniels’ story, which came on to their radar one day after the Access Hollywood tape. The Daniels story showed that his boorish behavior extended to actions, Colangelo told jurors.
Colangelo’s narrative is key here. The prosecution is trying to establish that Trump was desperate to keep a lid on damaging info. Colangelo said:
Another story about infidelity, with a porn star, on the heels of the access Hollywood tape, would have been devastating to his campaign.
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Donald Trump has been frowning while Manhattan DA prosecutor Matthew Colangelo tells the jury about Trump’s alleged affair with Stormy Daniels.
He has kept his eyes trained downwards on the table. Trump has also occasionally cocked his head to the side while fiddling with papers in front of him.
With his brow still furrowed, Trump appears frustrated for the first time as Colangelo reads out part of the infamous Access Hollywood tape to the jury, where he brags about grabbing women “by the pussy” – after which he passes a note to his lawyer Emil Bove.
On 7 October 2016, the Washington Post published a video of Donald Trump caught on a hot mic on the set of a television show called Access Hollywood – “he didn’t know he was being taped,” Manhattan district attorney Matthew Colangelo said.
Colangelo then read a transcript of Trump’s statement on the hot mic, quoting Trump saying that he could grab women “by the pussy”. Colangelo said:
Those were Donald Trump’s words, on a video, that was released one month before election day.
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The prosecution has discussed the various schemes including one involving Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with the married Trump.
Manhattan district attorney Matthew Colangelo said that “Pecker will also testify that 150,000 was way more than AMI (American Media) would normally pay for this kind of story, but he discussed it with Donald Trump and he discussed it with Michael Cohen, and he agreed on the deal with the understanding what Trump would find a way to pay AMI back.”
“The company coordinated directly with the candidate,” Colangelo also said of AMI. He told jurors that they would hear Trump on tape talking about the deal.
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Manhattan DA prosecutor Matthew Colangelo sketches out in his opening statement the link between Donald Trump’s alleged falsification of business records and the alleged campaign finance law violation – which is what would elevate the crimes into felonies.
Colangelo tells the jury that Trump’s “catch-and-kill” with David Pecker and the National Enquirer was all geared towards helping the Trump campaign.
There were three parts to the conspiracy, he says:
An agreement to run positive coverage in the National Enquirer
An agreement to attack opponents
An agreement to act as the “eyes and ears” for the campaign
Prosecution: 'This case is about criminal conspiracy'
The prosecution’s opening statement has just started. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says:
This case is about a criminal conspiracy and fraud. The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election then, he covered up that conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over, and, over, and over again.
Trump “invited his friend, David Pecker, to a meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan”, he says. Pecker, Cohen, and Trump met “as part of that agreement, Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to an adult film actress named Stormy Daniels ... to silence her, and to make sure the public did not learn about a sexual encounter with the defendant”.
The defendant said in his business records that he was paying Cohen for legal services pursuant to a legal agreement but those were lies: there was no retainer agreement Cohen was not paying for legal services, the defendant was paying him back for an illegal payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the election … he wanted to conceal his and others’ criminal conduct.
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Prosecution begins opening statements
Manhattan district attorney prosecutor Matthew Colangelo has begun his side’s opening statement. He says:
This case is about a criminal conspiracy. The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. Then he covered up that scheme by lying in his New York business records, over and over and over again.
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Donald Trump has a furrowed brow as Judge Merchan reads the jury instructions.
He has shifted in his seat – apparently trying to get comfortable – initially leaning forward before leaning back.
Trump lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove have been expressionless. Susan Necheles appeared to be looking at her notes.
A busy legal week ahead for Trump
Donald Trump is leaning forward in his chair as he listens to Judge Merchan read preliminary jury instructions.
It’s going to be an exceptionally busy legal week for Trump:
On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Trump must sit in New York state criminal court for this trial about falsification of business records to influence the 2016 presidential election;
Also on Monday, a New York civil judge is set to hold a hearing to decide whether to cancel Trump’s $175m bond in his civil fraud case;
On Thursday, Trump’s legal team will argue before the US supreme court that Trump has presidential immunity and cannot be prosecuted over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
As judge Juan Merchan continued with his instruction to jurors, a brief flicker of humor emerged.
Someone in the courtroom sneezed. Merchan paused his reading, said “Bless you,” and then continued.
A chuckle could be heard here and there.
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At present, in advance of openings, judge Juan Merchan is instructing jurors on the law.
“Defendant is not required to prove that he is not guilty,” Merchan said.
The defendant is not required to prove or disprove anything.
Prosecutors, he said, have the burden of proof. The jury’s findings, Merchan said, must not “be influenced in any way bias prejudice sympathy or by a desire to bring an end to your deliberations …”
This is all standard in criminal trials, of course – judges always instruct jurors on reasonable doubt what this metric means.
If prosecutors don’t prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, jurors must acquit. If prosecutors do, they must convict.
Jurors are looking at Merchan as he addresses them.
Donald Trump seems attentive. This reporter has not detected any sleepiness thus far.
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No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom once court is in session, but Donald Trump posed for a few photographs before court got under way this morning.
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Here’s more on Judge Juan Merchan’s rulings on what prosecutors can bring up if Donald Trump takes the stand.
New: If Trump testifies, prosecutors can cross-exam on
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 22, 2024
NYAG civil fraud case:
-- Trump misstated value of assets, fined, enjoined Trump from serving as officer
-- on Oct 20 2023, Trump violated gag order, fined $5k
-- on Oct 25 2023, Trump violated gag order, fined $10k
Carroll I defamation case:
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 22, 2024
-- on Sep 6 2023, Trump found to have defamed E Jean Carroll in 2019
Carroll II defamation case:
-- on May 9 2023, Trump found to defame E Jean Carroll and jury awarded compensatory and punitive damages
NYAG civil fraud case:
— Hugo Lowell (@hugolowell) April 22, 2024
-- Trump agreed to dissolve the Trump Foundation
BUT: Judge Merchan notably did not say prosecutors can elicit testimony from Trump that he sexually abused E Jean Carroll. It's now Trump's decision to make whether he testifies in his own defense.
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Judge Merchan is handing down his decision about what evidence prosecutors could ask Donald Trump on cross should he take the stand.
Prosecutors will be able to ask “that on September 6, 2023 the defendant was found to have defamed E Jean Carroll in public statements in 2019 by making statements of actual malice”.
Prosecutors will also be able to ask about compensatory and punitive damages Carroll received.
They can also ask about how Trump was found in New York attorney general Letitia James’s civil case against him “to have by fraudulently misstating the value of his assets for an economic benefit”.
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Judge Juan Merchan is reading his ruling on the Sandoval hearing, which determines what prosecutors are allowed to ask Donald Trump if he takes the stand – helping Trump decide whether to do so.
Juror who expressed concerns about media attention will remain
Judge Juan Merchan says a juror who expressed concerns is staying on the panel. He says:
Juror No 9 is going to remain with us, so that’s not going to be an issue.
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Judge Juan Merchan has taken the bench and greeted the court:
We have a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of before we get started.
He asks how long openings will be. Prosecutors said about 40 minutes; defense said about 25.
He also informed the court that one juror was having cold feet.
My understanding that the juror was concerned about the media attention and wasn’t 100% sure they wanted to be here today. The juror is here today I think we should speak to the juror.
Because there’s a courtroom full of people, they will confer with the juror in the robing room.
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Trump: 'It's a very, very sad day in America'
Donald Trump addressed reporters before entering the Manhattan courtroom, where he complained about his treatment and once again described himself as a victim of a “witch hunt”.
“What’s going on right here should never be happening. It’s a very, very sad day in America,” Trump told reporters.
The former president focused much of his remarks on the New York attorney general, Letitia James, and her civil fraud suit against him. James is “the worst attorney general in the country,” Trump complained.
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Court is in session
The court is now in session.
Opening statements are expected to begin soon.
The prosecution will probably try to frame the trial not as a sex scandal, but as another case of Trump’s attempts to interfere with elections. After all, that’s what they argue elevates this case to a felony: the prosecution say Trump falsified business records (normally a misdemeanor) in order to violate US campaign finance law (a federal crime).
The defense will be trying to downplay the events as a sordid but forgivable case of trying to hide an affair, which doesn’t rise to the level of a federal crime. They’re also likely to pile on Cohen’s own shady history in order to throw doubt on his claim that he discussed the deal with Trump in the Oval Office in 2017.
Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know
A guide to Trump’s hush-money trial – so far
The jurors: who is on the Trump trial jury?
The key arguments prosecutors will use against Trump
From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: the key players
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Donald Trump is walking into the courtroom, trailed by a procession of attorneys and paralegals, in advance of opening statements in his hush-money trial.
A coterie of photographers has entered the courtroom to snap photos of the ex-president who, in moments, will be the first commander-in-chief, present or former, to face opening statements in a criminal trial.
While jury selection last week did mark the commencement of Trump’s hush-money trial, it gains momentum this morning with expected opening statements.
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Donald Trump’s Manhattan criminal trial in his hush-money case starts in earnest this morning with opening statements that mark a momentous day in US history.
Trump is the first American president, former or sitting, to face a criminal trial and the proceedings also play out against a 2024 presidential race in which Trump is almost certain to be the Republican nominee to face Joe Biden.
The first week of Trump’s trial was characterized by comedy and, at one point, tragic chaos. Over four days of jury selection, Trump had to listen to his fellow New Yorkers talk about why they could not be fair jurors in his trial.
But on Friday afternoon, right as the six alternate jurors were chosen, a man set himself on fire across from the 100 Centre Street courthouse. The man, who succumbed to his injuries, left behind pamphlets and an online screed in which he outlined numerous conspiracy theories that seemed to have little specifically to do with Trump but were more broadly anti-government and anti-tech industry, among other targets.
Donald Trump was seen raising a fist to the cameras as he departed Trump Tower to head to Manhattan court this morning.
The former president has in the past week addressed the media before heading inside the courtroom ahead of court proceedings, which get under way at about 9.30am ET.
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Trump arrives at New York courthouse for opening statements
Donald Trump has arrived at the Manhattan central courthouse for the opening in earnest of his criminal trial, likely to include opening statements today.
The Guardian’s Victoria Bekiempis and Hugo Lowell are at the courthouse.
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Trump leaves for court
Donald Trump left Trump Tower, waving to assembled press, and is on his way in a motorcade to the Manhattan central courthouse.
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If there’s enough time in the day (court may wrap around 2pm today because of Passover), the trial could see its first witness.
This is expected to be David Pecker, the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), which publishes the National Enquirer.
Pecker will be asked about his alleged deals with Trump to “catch and kill” negative stories by buying them from people and then not publishing them, in order to save Trump the bad publicity before the 2016 election.
For example, there’s the Trump Tower doorman who said he heard Trump fathered a child with one of his employees (a story that turned out to be false but the National Enquirer bought anyway, to kill it).
And there’s the model Karen McDougal, who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump while his wife, Melania, was pregnant with his son Barron (though the judge has ruled that the prosecution cannot mention that little titbit). AMI paid McDougal $150,000 to stay quiet.
In a twist, AMI actually decided not to pay Stormy Daniels for her story, balking at her $120,000 asking price. That’s why it was left to Trump’s fixer Cohen to make the payments ($130,000 in the end) directly to her attorney. History turns on such things.
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Next up most likely would be opening statements.
The prosecution will probably try to frame the trial not as a sex scandal, but as another case of Trump’s attempts to interfere with elections. After all, that’s what they argue elevates this case to a felony: the prosecution say Trump falsified business records (normally a misdemeanour) in order to violate US campaign finance law (a federal crime).
Politico also reports that people close to the case say the prosecution will be working hard to “rehabilitate the credibility” of Michael Cohen – Trump’s former fixer, who already served time for his role in the hush-money payments, but who has also previously been found guilty of lying in court. Luckily for them, there is a fair amount of evidence to corroborate Cohen’s central claim: that he paid Stormy Daniels at Trump’s behest.
The defense, for their part, will be trying to downplay the events as a sordid but forgivable case of trying to hide an affair, which doesn’t rise to the level of a federal crime. They’ll also likely pile on Cohen’s own shady history in order to throw doubt on his claim that he discussed the deal with Trump in the Oval Office in 2017.
Trump himself may or may not testify. The one thing we know he’ll definitely do, however, is pitch the trial every day in the courthouse corridors to anyone who will listen as a “Biden-inspired witch-hunt” – evidence that he sees two juries: the 12 people in the courthouse and the 160 million-plus American voters, who, let’s remember, could still elect him even if he’s convicted.
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What’s happening today?
Likely to come first is what’s known as a “Sandoval” decision. Here, the judge rules in advance about what prosecutors are allowed to ask Trump if he takes the stand – helping Trump decide whether to do so. (He has said he would, but signs indicate he may not.)
In this case, prosecutors have asked the judge for several things, such as permission to ask Trump about the two civil fraud trials he just lost: one for defaming E Jean Carroll after she accused him of raping her, which a judge ruled was “substantially true”, and the other for fradulently inflating the value of his properties.
They also want to grill him, among other matters, about criticism from a judge in a different case that Trump didn’t seem to be a truthful witness. Colour us shocked.
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So: who are those jurors?
It’s understandable that you’d be interested. So are we. And there is some limited information about them here:
But many media outlets seem determined to dox (or reveal the identity and personal information, like addresses) of the jurors.
This would probably expose them to threats and abuse from Trump’s legions of fans, even without him telling them to.
So curiosity is normal. But given Merchan has unusually decided not to sequester the jury (often standard procedure in such high-profile trials), perhaps it’s best to give these people a little privacy, too.
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Hush-money trial to hear opening statements
Well, after all the appeals and bombast and tears, it’s finally here: opening statements in the first criminal trial of a US president.
Jury selection in the case of the People of the State of New York versus Donald Trump wrapped up last week, though not without some difficulty. Hundreds of prospective jurors were dismissed, several cried and a couple of them quit after they were chosen.
But at last Judge Juan Merchan has landed on 18 people (12 jurors and six alternates) living in Manhattan who say they don’t have strong enough opinions about Donald Trump to bias them against the facts.
And facts there are aplenty. Prosecutors accuse Trump of falsifying business records in order to cover up an attempt to influence the 2016 election. Specifically, they say he tried right before that election – at a time when was already facing serious heat because of the Access Hollywood tape, in which he bragged he could sexually assault women because he was famous – to buy the silence of a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with him 10 years before.
Prosecutors say Trump feared yet another sex scandal could sink his election prospects, so he paid her to keep silent about the affair, his coercive behavior in the bedroom, and of course his “toadstool”.
It’s going to be edifying. We’re at the courthouse. Stay with us.
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