Prosecutors open Trump trial with tales of political dirt, money, collusion with National Enquirer

Former president Donald Trump, center, awaits the start of proceedings at Manhattan criminal court, Monday, April 22, 2024, in New York. Opening statements in Donald Trump’s historic hush money trial are set to begin. Trump is accused of falsifying internal …in the first criminal trial against a former president, telling jurors he committed tax and election crimes to hush up bad press ahead of the 2016 election.

The release of “Access Hollywood” audio, in which Mr. Trump spoke crudely about women, threw fuel on the scheme and led to payoffs to an adult-film actress, false business entries and ultimately 34 felony counts against Mr. Trump, according to an opening argument from prosecutor through checks cut in 2017 to conceal hush money paid around the 2016 election and misled banks and others about the purpose of the payments by disguising them as legal services.told jurors that prosecutors were concocting a crime out of “34 pieces of paper” that Mr. Trump signed to pay his attorney many years ago.

Even if convicted of felony counts, Mr. Trump is unlikely to face prison time given his lack of criminal history and the nature of the charges. The facts in the case are eight years old and have been litigated in the court of public opinion. The second deal involved Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, who claimed to have a nearly yearlong affair with Mr. Trump. Mr.ordered the Enquirer to buy Ms. McDougal’s story, with Mr. Pecker getting his company to front $150,000 for the long-term rights to that story.

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