On Monday, the first criminal trial of Donald Trump began with both prosecution and defense delivering their opening statements, followed by the first witness in the case, former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker, taking the stand.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo gave the opening statement for prosecution.
“This case is about a criminal conspiracy,” said Colangelo. “Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his NY business records over and over and over again.”
Colangelo spoke for about 45 minutes, explaining how the prosecution would show multiple instances in which Trump had used Pecker’s tabloid as part of a “catch and kill” scheme, but emphasizing how the business records at the heart of this case were allegedly falsified when Trump was desperate to keep his connections with adult film actress Stormy Daniels hidden in the final days before the 2016 election.
“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” said Colangelo.
UPDATE:
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Mark Sumner
Whatever is being discussed in chambers appears to be unconnected to the gag order hearing. And yeah, everyone finds it interesting to watch Trump try to be operate on his own for a few minutes.
UPDATE:
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Mark Sumner
Almost instantly, Trump is left to twiddle his fingers as the attorneys head for Merchan’s chambers.
UPDATE:
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Mark Sumner
Merchan comes in, sits down, and things are underway.
This is the hearing requested by the prosecution to discuss whether Trump’s social media posts, especially those that included potential witnesses, violated the existing gag order and require that Trump be held in contempt.
UPDATE:
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Mark Sumner
If you’ve wondered where the Trump in court photos come from each day, the press is allowed to take photos in the courtroom before Judge Juan Merchan gavels in the start of the day. That’s why Trump appears relatively alert in the images you see — they’re all taken in the first few minutes.
Trump’s lead attorney, Todd Blanche, gave the opening statement for the defense. Blanche didn’t try to deny the existence of the catch-and-kill scheme, but passed it off as something that celebrities are forced to do in dealing with extortion attempts. Blanche largely focused on the documents central to the 34 charges against Trumpdenying that there was anything criminal in Trump’s accounting of his payments and insisting that former Trump attorney Michael Cohen can’t be trusted.
Pecker took the stand briefly on Monday, but his testimony was just beginning when the abbreviated court day was brought to a close. Pecker is expected to return to the stand at 11:00 AM ET, when the trial resumes.
However, before the trial gets underway on Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan will conduct a hearing on whether Trump violated his gag order with a series of social media posts. That hearing begins at 9:30 AM ET.
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