Former President Donald Trump is present in court for the first day of his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Monday, April 22, 2024. (Victor J. Blue/The Washington Post via AP, Pool)
The hush-money trial for former president Donald Trump, 77, began with opening statements in Manhattan, New York City, on Monday morning.
The defendant is facing a 34-count felony indictment for allegedly falsifying business records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, 45, during the final days of the 2016 election.
In the historic case, the first criminal prosecution of a former U.S. president, prosecutors have long alleged that Trump fraudulently prepared certain business records to cover up an electoral conspiracy.
Prosecutors stuck to that storyline in the cold Centre Street courtroom.
It’s FREEZING
— Molly Crane-Newman (@molcranenewman) April 22, 2024
“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up,” Senior Counsel Matthew Colangelo began. “The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election, then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying on his New York business records repeatedly.”
Throughout this alleged cover-up, Trump fabricated a total of 12 ledger entries, 11 invoices, and 11 checks, Colangelo told the jury, according to a report by Courthouse News reporter Erik Uebelacker.
The broader details of the alleged conspiracy, however, involved more people than just Trump himself. The prosecutor proceeded to introduce several key figures jurors are likely to hear about during the potentially lengthy trial.
An essential part of the alleged scheme was Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime friend, attorney, and fixer, the prosecutor said.
Even more crucial was David Pecker, the former CEO of the National Enquirer‘s parent company, American Media Inc. The publishing giant is known for the controversial practice called “catch and kill,” in which a publication buys a damaging story just to bury it. With such an arrangement, Colangelo said, Pecker used his business empire to support Trump’s 2016 campaign, with reporters and editors becoming the “eyes and ears” of the presidential bid, according to a report by Just Security fellow Adam Klasfeld.
On Monday, Colangelo shared how the alleged architects of the hush-money scheme showed concerns in a “flurry of text messages” about former Playboy model Karen McDougal’s claim to have had a nearly yearlong relationship with Trump, according to a report by New York Daily News reporter Molly Crane-Newman.
As Law&Crime previously reported, AMI paid McDougal $150,000 for her story and then kept it under wraps for years.
Then came Daniels — allegations of yet another affair that first arose in the immediate aftermath of the infamous Access Hollywood tape where Trump casually discusses sexually assaulting women with talk show host Billy Bush. The campaign desperately wanted to keep Daniels’ story from becoming public.
According to the state, Cohen was the first source of the money this time. He used a shell company to hide the $130,000 payment that was meant to keep Daniels quiet until after the voting.
“With increasing pressure and Election Day coming soon, Donald Trump agreed to the payment [to Stormy Daniels] and instructed Cohen to proceed,” Colangelo reportedly said to the jury. “It was election fraud.”