Trump Tried to 'Corrupt' 2016 Election, Prosecutor Says Silence in Opening Statement

NEW YORK (AP) Donald Trump tried to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election by preventing damaging stories about his personal life from being made public, a prosecutor told jurors Monday at the start of the historic trial of the former president.

“This was a long-planned plot to influence the 2016 election, help Donald Trump get elected through illegal spending, and silence people who had anything negative to say about him. behavior,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said. “It was voter fraud, pure and simple.”

READ MORE: Who are the main players in Donald Trump's secret criminal trial?

A defense attorney responded by calling the case baseless and attacking the integrity of the former Trump confidant, who is now the government's star witness.

“President Trump is innocent. President Trump has committed no crime. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office should never have brought this case,” attorney Todd Blanche said.

The opening statements offered the 12-person jury and voting public radically divergent road maps for a case that will play out against the backdrop of a hotly contested White House race in which Trump is not only the presumptive Republican nominee , but also a criminal defendant facing the prospect. a felony conviction and prison time.

It is the first criminal trial of a former U.S. president and the first of four prosecutions against Trump to reach a jury. Consistent with that history, prosecutors sought from the outset to increase the seriousness of the case, which they said was primarily about election interference, as evidenced by hush-money payments to a porn actress who said she had a sexual relationship with Trump.

“The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up this criminal conspiracy by lying over and over again in his business records in New York,” Colangelo said.

Trumps 2024 Trials: Where They Stand and What to Expect

The trial, which could last up to two months, will force Trump to spend his days in a courtroom rather than on the campaign trail, a reality he complained about Monday when he lamented to reporters after leaving the courtroom: “I am the leader”. candidate…and that's why they're trying to get me off track. Checks paid to a lawyer.

Trump has nevertheless sought to make his status as a criminal defendant an asset for his campaign, raising funds to alleviate his legal risks and repeatedly railing against a justice system that he has claimed for years to be a weapon against him. In the coming weeks, the case will test the jury's ability to judge him impartially, but also Trump's ability to comply with courtroom protocol, including an order of silence against him. prohibiting attacks on witnesses, jurors, trial prosecutors and some others.

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records, a charge punishable by up to four years in prison, although it is unclear whether the judge would seek to put him behind bars . A conviction would not prevent Trump from becoming president again, but because it is a state matter, he would not be able to pardon himself if convicted. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

The case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg revisits a years-old chapter in Trump's biography when his celebrity past collided with his political ambitions and, prosecutors say, he eager to suppress stories that, they feared, could torpedo his campaign.

READ MORE: 3 key things to watch for in Trump's first criminal trial

The opening statements served as an introduction to the colorful cast of characters who figure prominently in this sordid saga, including Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who says she received the hush money; Michael Cohen, the lawyer who prosecutors say paid her; and David Pecker, the tabloid editor who agreed to serve as the campaign's “eyes and ears” and who was the first prosecution witness Monday.

Pecker is scheduled to return to the stand on Tuesday, when the court will also hear arguments on whether Trump violated Judge Juan Merchan's order of silence with a series of Truth Social posts about witnesses over the past week .

In his opening statement, Colangelo described a comprehensive effort by Trump and his allies to prevent three separate stories, including two from women alleging prior sexual relationships, from surfacing during the 2016 presidential campaign. The undertaking was particularly urgent after the emergence, late in the race, of a 2005 “Access Hollywood” recording in which Trump could be heard bragging about sexually assaulting women without their permission. Colangelo recited Trump's now-infamous remarks as Trump looked on impassively. .

“The impact of this tape on the campaign was immediate and explosive,” Colangelo said.

Days after the “Access Hollywood” tape became public, Colangelo told jurors that the National Enquirer alerted Cohen that Stormy Daniels was campaigning to make public her claims about a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006.

“At Trump's direction, Cohen negotiated a deal to buy Ms. Daniels' story to prevent American voters from hearing this story before Election Day,” Colangelo told jurors.

But, the prosecutor noted, “neither Trump nor the Trump Organization could simply write a check to Cohen with a memo line saying 'reimbursement for porn star earnings.' it looks like the payment was actually income, payment for services rendered.

These allegedly falsified records form the backbone of the 34-count indictment against Trump. Trump has denied having a sexual relationship with Daniels.

READ MORE: All charges against Trump in New York secrecy case

Blanche, the defense attorney, sought to preemptively undermine the credibility of Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges related to his role in the hush money scheme, as someone “obsessed” with Trump who cannot be trusted. He said Trump did nothing illegal when his company recorded the checks written to Cohen as legal expenses.

“There is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. This is called democracy,” not a crime, Blanche said. Blanche disputed the notion that Trump accepted payment from Daniels to save his campaign. Instead, he called the transaction an attempt to cover up a “sinister” attempt to embarrass Trump and those close to him.

“President Trump fought back, as he always does, and as he has the right to do, to protect his family, his reputation and his brand, and that is not a crime,” Blanche told jurors.

Efforts to suppress stories are what is known in the tabloid industry as “catch and kill”: catching a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it, then killing it through deals that prevent the person being paid to tell the story to someone else. .

Besides the payment to Daniels, Colangelo also described other arrangements, including one that paid a former Playboy model $150,000 to suppress allegations of a nearly year-long affair with the married Trump. Colangelo said Trump “desperately didn't want this information about Karen McDougal made public because he was worried about its effect on the election.”

He said jurors will hear a recording Cohen made in September 2016 in which he informed Trump of the plan to buy McDougal's story. The recording was made public in July 2018. Colangelo told jurors they would hear Trump in his own voice saying, “What do we have to pay for this?” One hour fifty?

Trump denies McDougal affair allegations.

The first and only witness Monday was Pecker, then publisher of the National Enquirer and a longtime friend of Trump's who prosecutors say met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower in August 2015 and agreed to help Trump's campaign to identify negative stories about him.

Pecker described the tabloid's use of “checkbook journalism,” a practice of paying a source for a story.

“I gave a number to the editors that they couldn't spend more than $10,000” on an article without getting his approval, Pecker said Tuesday.

The New York case has taken on added significance because it could be the only one of four cases against Trump to go to trial before the November election. Appeals and legal wrangling delayed the other three cases.

Tucker reported from Washington.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trump-tried-to-corrupt-the-2016-election-hush-money-prosecutor-alleges-in-opening-statement The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes Online

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages. One important advantage is the speed at which information is sent and received. With the help of the internet, the shopping habits of many persons have drastically changed. The car insurance industry hasn't remained untouched by these changes. On the internet, drivers can compare insurance prices and find out which sellers have the best offers. View photos The advantages of comparing online car insurance quotes are the following: Online quotes can be obtained from anywhere and at any time. Unlike physical insurance agencies, websites don't have a specific schedule and they are available at any time. Drivers that have busy working schedules, can compare quotes from anywhere and at any time, even at midnight. Multiple choices. Almost all insurance providers, no matter if they are well-known brands or just local insurers, have an online presence. Online quotes will allow policyholders the chance to discover multiple insurance companies and check their prices. Drivers are no longer required to get quotes from just a few known insurance companies. Also, local and regional insurers can provide lower insurance rates for the same services. Accurate insurance estimates. Online quotes can only be accurate if the customers provide accurate and real info about their car models and driving history. Lying about past driving incidents can make the price estimates to be lower, but when dealing with an insurance company lying to them is useless. Usually, insurance companies will do research about a potential customer before granting him coverage. Online quotes can be sorted easily. Although drivers are recommended to not choose a policy just based on its price, drivers can easily sort quotes by insurance price. Using brokerage websites will allow drivers to get quotes from multiple insurers, thus making the comparison faster and easier. For additional info, money-saving tips, and free car insurance quotes, visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ Compare-autoinsurance.Org is an online provider of life, home, health, and auto insurance quotes. This website is unique because it does not simply stick to one kind of insurance provider, but brings the clients the best deals from many different online insurance carriers. In this way, clients have access to offers from multiple carriers all in one place: this website. On this site, customers have access to quotes for insurance plans from various agencies, such as local or nationwide agencies, brand names insurance companies, etc. "Online quotes can easily help drivers obtain better car insurance deals. All they have to do is to complete an online form with accurate and real info, then compare prices", said Russell Rabichev, Marketing Director of Internet Marketing Company. CONTACT: Company Name: Internet Marketing CompanyPerson for contact Name: Gurgu CPhone Number: (818) 359-3898Email: [email protected]: https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/ SOURCE: Compare-autoinsurance.Org View source version on accesswire.Com:https://www.Accesswire.Com/595055/What-Are-The-Main-Benefits-Of-Comparing-Car-Insurance-Quotes-Online View photos