Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump approaches the media at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, Friday, April 19, 2024.
While courtroom access to Donald Trump’s hush money trial was restricted to a handful of reporters during jury selection, the start of opening statements has given members of the public a chance to witness the first criminal trial of a former president up close. Judge Juan M. Merchan had originally planned to adjourn at 2 p.m. because of Passover but agreed to adjourn early to accommodate an alternate juror’s emergency dental appointment.He’s the first person ever to testify at a criminal trial of a former U.S. president, and David Pecker is doing so under subpoena, with his lawyer in the courtroom.
He went on to describe the publication’s coverage meetings — in which he had final say over celebrity stories — and his editorial philosophy.the National Enquirer’s former publisher “There’s nothing illegal about what you will hear happened among the National Enquirer, AMI, David Pecker and Donald Trump,” Blanche said, adding: “It’s not a scheme, unless a scheme means something that doesn’t matter, that’s not illegal.”
Anticipating the defense’s likely attacks on their star witness, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo acknowledged Cohen’s criminal record earlier in the day. Todd Blanche portrayed the business ledger entries at issue in the case as pro forma actions performed by a Trump Organization functionary. “President Trump had nothing to do with any of the 34 pieces of paper, the 34 counts, except that he signed the checks, in the White House, while he was running the country.”
In the prosecution’s openings, Trump was referred to as “the defendant.” But his own lawyers are referring to him as “President Trump.”Other Trump lawyers have used the same language in previous legal cases.After the 2016 election, Donald Trump invited David Pecker, then publisher of the National Enquirer, to Trump Tower to thank him for his contribution to the campaign, prosecutors said Monday.
“This might be the only time it ever happened,” Colangelo said. Trump’s willingness to part with so much cash showed how important it was to him to keep the hush money scheme under wraps, the prosecutor posited.Within days of the “Access Hollywood” tape involving Donald Trump becoming public, Colangelo told jurors, The National Enquirer alerted Trump’s then-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen that porn actor Stormy Daniels wanted to go public with her claims of a 2006 sexual encounter with Trump.
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