Trump’s defense team insisted on Monday that former President Trump is “innocent” and had “nothing to do” with the alleged hush-money payments that they say were orchestrated by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Opening statements were made Monday in the former president’s historic and unprecedented criminal trial.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on 34 counts of first-degree falsification of business records. The charges relate to hush money allegedly paid to adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
Republican presidential candidate and former US president Donald Trump continues his criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to hide money he paid to hush porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016. , sit in court. April at Manhattan State Court in New York City. 22nd, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDiarmid/Pool)
Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He has denounced the trial as pure politics and “political persecution” and maintains his innocence. The former president, the first to be a defendant in a criminal trial, vowed to “tell the truth” if he takes his stand.
Defense attorney Todd Blanche said Monday there was no wrongdoing and argued that Trump was defending himself against false allegations.
“Mr. Trump fought back to protect his family, reputation and brand,” Branch said. “And it’s not a crime.”
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo gave opening statements on behalf of Mr. Bragg on Monday, saying the case against Mr. Trump “is about criminal conspiracy and cover-up.”
Colangelo invited former American Media Inc. (AMI) CEO David Pecker to Trump Tower several months after Trump announced his candidacy for president in June 2015. He claimed to have had a meeting. His lawyer and “fixer” at the time, Michael Cohen, was also present at the meeting. AMI owned the National Inquirer.
“Those three men orchestrated a conspiracy to influence the election,” Colangelo said.
Colangelo claimed that Cohen paid adult film actress Stormy Daniels $130,000 to “shut up” her and hide her alleged sexual encounters with Trump from the public. Colangelo claimed that after the election, Trump repaid Cohen through a series of monthly checks from his firm, but disguised the payments as payments for her legal services.
Colangelo alleges that Pecker, Cohen and Trump “conspired to influence the 2016 presidential election” and prevented Pecker from collecting damaging information and making it public. Then he said. Colangelo claimed he only published unflattering articles about Trump and negative articles about his opponents.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks during a press conference at the Louis J. Lefkowitz State Office Building in New York City on March 21, 2024. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
Colangelo alleged that the men used a practice known as “catch and kill” to purchase harmful information and then forced the sellers of the information to sign non-disclosure agreements to prevent the information from being released. .
Colangelo said the practice was used three times. The first time was to stop a story that a former Trump Tower doorman was trying to sell about an alleged child born out of wedlock. The amount paid was $30,000, Colangelo said. The doorman’s story ultimately turned out to be false.
The next person to be paid was Karen McDougall, a former Playboy model who claimed to have had a romantic and sexual relationship with President Trump. Mr. Colangelo claimed that Mr. Cohen asked AMI to buy the article. Colangelo said AMI paid him $150,000 in exchange for “unrestricted life rights” to McDougal’s story.
Colangelo also claimed that adult film actress Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000.
Michael Cohen, former personal attorney of US President Donald Trump, outside a federal courthouse in New York on Thursday, December 14, 2023. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Colangelo said that when it came time to repay Cohen, Trump “didn’t negotiate a lower price and doubled the amount.” “The willingness to do this shows the importance of concealing payments,” Colangelo argued, calling for a “whole election conspiracy.”
Colangelo said the payments were made in monthly installments of $35,000 in 2017. Mr. Colangelo claimed that Mr. Cohen sent him “fake” invoices for his legal work.
Colangelo also pointed to the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape that was released weeks before the 2016 election.
“This case is about an illegal conspiracy to undermine the presidential election and the steps President Trump took to cover up election fraud,” Colangelo told jurors. “When considering the evidence, use common sense, focus on the facts, focus on the evidence, and listen to the testimony.”
“Once all the evidence is in place, we will speak to you again and explain that the evidence leads to only one conclusion: Donald Trump has been charged with 34 counts of first-degree falsification of business records. He is guilty,” he added.
Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, then took the stage and delivered the former president’s opening statement.
“President Trump is innocent,” Blanche said, insisting that the former president had founded a large and successful company before taking office. After being elected in 2016, he “built a wall between himself and the company.”
Blanche claimed that some of Trump’s employees continue to help track his personal expenses, pointing to Cohen, who sent him a $35,000 invoice for legal work.
Blanche said the invoice had been processed and the check signed, and that Trump was the only signatory on the personal account.
Blanche pointed to the invoices, checks and ledger entries that Cohen sent to Trump Tower, arguing that the 34 count was “actually just 34 pieces of paper.”
“None of this was a crime,” Blanche said. “People say Trump is trying to hide the payments, but think about it…President Trump didn’t give Cohen $130,000 back. He paid Cohen $420,000.”
Stormy Daniels sits down with Piers Morgan for an interview available on Fox Nation (Fox News)
He added: “Would a frugal businessman pay off a $130,000 debt down to $420,000?”
Blanche said the $35,000 was “not a repayment.”
“Cohen was President Trump’s personal attorney,” Blanche said, noting that Cohen’s byline at the time said “President Trump’s personal attorney.”
“There’s nothing special about a ledger account,” Blanche said, adding that Trump “had nothing to do with invoicing, issuing checks, making entries on the ledger.”
“Mr. Trump had nothing to do with the 34 papers other than signing the checks,” Blanche claimed. “The reality is that Trump is not in crisis.”
He added: “Spoiler alert: There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence elections. It’s called democracy. They put something sinister on it.” .
Blanche argued that it was “not illegal” for Cohen to pay Daniels, and that it was not illegal to enter into a non-disclosure agreement, adding that companies “do that all the time.”
Blanche said there was “nothing illegal about this” and that Daniels was trying to embarrass Trump with “all kinds of allegations” that could be “damaging to Trump and his family.” insisted.
“Mr. Trump fought back to protect his family, reputation and brand,” Branch said. “And it’s not a crime.”
Regarding Cohen’s claims, Branch said Cohen worked as Trump’s personal attorney and had hoped to work in the Trump administration once Trump was elected.
Michael Cohen (left) and Donald Trump (right). (AP)
“He didn’t get anything,” Blanche said. “He was a longtime loyalist and defender of Trump. But he was also a criminal. He cheated on his taxes, lied to banks, lied about his side job, and was arrested in 2018.”
Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to charges including campaign finance violations, lying to Congress and tax evasion. He was sentenced to three years in prison.
Blanche noted that Cohen is a disbarred, “convicted felon” and “convicted perjurer,” adding, “After his arrest, he put all of his problems behind him. “I made the decision to blame President Trump.”
“Cohen was obsessed with Trump,” Branch said. “He’s still obsessed with President Trump.”
Blanche added that Cohen has been ranting about Trump on social media and expressing a desire to see the former president go to prison.
“Last night, Cohen said he was emotionally excited about this trial,” Blanche said. “He can’t be trusted.”
Mr. Blanche again pointed to Mr. Cohen’s guilty plea to lying under oath.
Playboy model Karen McDougall, right.
“President Trump cannot make any significant decisions about whether he relies on Michael Cohen,” Branch said.
As for Stormy Daniels, Branch reminded her that she “denied in writing any inappropriate relationship” with Trump.
“In the weeks leading up to 2016, she saw an opportunity to make a lot of money and it paid off,” Blanche said, adding that since her name became associated with Trump, she has made “hundreds of thousands of dollars. ”, he added.
Blanche told the jury that the court is siding with Trump in his legal dispute with Daniels.
Blanche said Daniels “knows nothing” about the charges, what Cohen wrote on the invoice or the check.
“Her testimony, while despicable, is not inconsequential,” Blanche said.
“President Trump has not been charged with any conspiracy,” Branch continued. “There is nothing illegal about what happened. Things like this happen on a regular basis.”
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Blanche went on to argue that “a plan is not a plan unless it means that it is unimportant.”
”If your motivation for selling magazines aligns with “catch and kill,” listen up. Blanche said, “Listen to the evidence, listen to Cohen’s testimony, hear whether it’s true. Whether it has anything to do with AMI, catch-and-kill, stories of people still working at Trump Tower. Please listen to me.”
He added: “We would conclude that this is not the case.”
