Trump trials takeaways: Why prosecutors focused on alleged conspiracy – The Washington Post
It’s been more than a year since Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Donald Trump on charges of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment during the 2016 election. And on Monday we had our first testimony. The freshly empaneled jury heard opening statements and — briefly — from the government’s first witness.
It was an extra short day in the Manhattan criminal courthouse. Court was supposed to adjourn at 2 p.m. for the Passover holiday. The judge ended up dismissing everyone at 12:30 so an alternate juror could address a health issue.
Here’s a very abbreviated primer to help you better understand the opening statements: (Read more about the case here.)
Court will be back in session Tuesday with another abbreviated day. New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan will start without the jurors in the room, for a hearing on whether Trump has violated the court-issued gag order that bars him from attacking witnesses, prosecutors or family members of the judge and the Manhattan district attorney.
Now, the key takeaways from the first day of testimony in the first trial of a former U.S. president:
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The unusual and challenging part of this case is that, to convict Trump of a felony, prosecutors need to tie the alleged doctoring of financial records to the more lurid election-related conspiracy for which he is not facing charges.
The government’s opening statement focused on just that. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo argued that Trump paid Daniels the hush money on the eve of the election to keep word of their alleged affair away from voters.
Colangelo told jurors the government’s key witnesses are expected to illustrate that the payment to Daniels should have been counted as a campaign expense — not a legal retainer — because it benefited Trump’s run for office.
“Cohen made that payment at Donald Trump’s direction … and he did it with the specific goal of influencing the outcome of the election,” Colangelo said. “It was election fraud pure and simple.”
Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche told jurors the case is hobbled by a “complete lack of knowledge or intent by President Trump.” Blanche also repeatedly attempted to knock down Cohen’s credibility, arguing that Trump is not responsible for what Cohen did years ago.
“President Trump is innocent,” Blanche began. “President Trump did not commit any crimes.”
If Trump decides to testify in his defense at trial, Merchan ruled Monday that prosecutors could ask him about recent civil court findings that Trump sexually assaulted and defamed writer E. Jean Carroll. They will also be able to ask him about a civil case brought by the New York attorney general that found that Trump and his business misstated the values of their properties to obtain preferential treatment from banks and insurers. The cases resulted in hefty financial penalties.
Trump has said he will testify at the trial, but it’s unclear if he actually will. If he does, prosecutors will likely use these past verdicts to portray him as a person with a history of lying, suggesting to jurors that his testimony is not credible.
They will not be allowed to ask about the underlying facts in the case.
Merchan warned on Monday that he could change his mind about what prosecutors will ultimately be allowed to ask Trump.
The government claims that their first witness, the former CEO of the company that publishes the National Enquirer tabloid, was part of a scheme to sleuth out stories unfavorable to Trump, pay the subject not to go public with their stories, then not publish the stories — a tactic known as “catch and kill.”
Prosecutors say David Pecker’s discussions with Trump are key to understanding Trump’s motive and intent in paying hush money in what prosecutors allege amounted to a criminal scheme to keep the voting public in the dark about the sexual encounter Daniels claims she had with Trump.
Pecker seemed cheerful in the first 20 minutes of questioning by prosecutors, which mostly focused on the financial structure of the company that Pecker ran and biographical details. He will face more questioning from prosecutors on Tuesday, after the contempt hearing, and then cross-examination from Trump’s attorneys.
[Check out The Washington Post’s new podcast on video or audio, recapping and analyzing the latest in Trump’s New York trial.]
We’ve been getting a lot of questions in our inboxes about the New York trial. We’ll try to answer as many as we can.
Have more questions on this or upcoming trials? Email us at perry.stein@washpost.com and devlin.barrett@washpost.com
Q. Why is Trump allowed to address reporters and cameras while he is still in the courthouse?
A. Manhattan criminal court allows defendants and lawyers to talk to reporters. Because of the heightened security concerns and media in Trump’s trial, a part of the hallway has been blocked off for Trump to do so — and he is, every day. There are microphones and cameras set up, with a small rotating pool of reporters assigned to keep the hallways from getting clogged with too many media members.
Laws on cameras in courtrooms vary from state to state, but federal courts are very strict: no cameras, period. That means that the Trump case in D.C., where he faces charges for election interference, and Florida, where he is charged with illegally retaining classified materials and obstructing government efforts to retrieve them, will have no televised hallway statements by the defendant. But in Georgia, where he is charged with conspiring to obstruct the 2020 election results in that state, the whole trial is broadcast live.
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