Key Points
- Opening arguments have been heard in the historic trial against former United States president Donald Trump.
- Prosecutors say Trump paid off porn star Stormy Daniels to silence her.
- The defence has argued Daniels’ testimony does not matter.
Trump, 77, dressed in a dark blue suit and blue tie with an American flag pin on his lapel, sat at the defence table flanked by his lawyers, staring straight ahead as the prosecutor delivered his opening remarks.
Prosecution lays out its case
Assistant district attorney Matthew Colangelo said Trump paid off Daniels “to silence her”.
(Trump) orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. He lied in his New York business records over and over and over again.
Prosecution
“I suspect the defence will go to great lengths to get you to reject (Cohen’s) testimony, precisely because it is so damning.”
Stormy Daniels allegedly received a ‘hush money’ payment from Trump’s former personal lawyer in exchange for her silence about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump in 2006. Credit: PA
Colangelo said evidence “inescapably leads to only one conclusion: Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree”.
“We ask you to use your common sense … look past any irrelevant sideshows that might pop up during this trial. Tune out the noise. Focus on the facts.”
The defence fights back
On Stormy Daniels: “Her testimony, while salacious, does not matter.”
I have a spoiler alert: there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.
Trump’s defence
“We trust that you’re going to decide this case based on the evidence you hear in this courtroom, and nothing else. And if you do that, there will be a very swift not-guilty verdict.”
Trump, outside court
This is a witch hunt.
Donald Trump
Tyler Mitchell