A reinforced security perimeter and dozens of supporters and detractors of Donald Trump received the Republican candidate yesterday in front of the criminal court in Lower Manhattan. Inside began the initial allegations and the first testimony – from editor David Pecker – of the only criminal trial of a former president in the history of the United States. The defense and prosecution presented opposing views of the Stormy Daniels bribery case to the 12-member jury, selected last week, and began strategizing for a trial that could last a month and a half. The verdict reached by these dozen anonymous New Yorkers will determine whether Trump is sentenced to prison before the November presidential election.
Before entering the court, the tycoon said in front of the cameras that this trial is part of “electoral interference”. “Everyone knows it, it’s very unfair,” he said, and repeated his words from last Monday, when the selection of the jury began: “This is a witch hunt with the aim of harming the opponent of the worst president of history”.
The case involves “a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up” with the aim of “adulterating” the 2016 election, summarized Matthew Colangelo, one of the members of the prosecution in charge of presenting the case to the jury. Specifically, it revolves around the $130,000 payment that Trump’s then-lawyer Michael Cohen made to porn actress Stephanie Clifford – whose stage name is Stormy Daniels – to buy her silence about an extramarital affair that they had held ten years before. The mogul then reimbursed that money to Cohen and booked it as legal expenses for his family business.
The indictment considers this to have constituted a crime of document falsification, which aided the commission of another crime, against New York’s campaign finance law, which aggravates the charges and makes them criminal. For its part, the defense tried to convince the jury that the relationship between Trump and Daniels never took place and that the payment – which it cannot deny, because it was recorded and because Cohen already acknowledged it in 2018 before the justice and was convicted for it – it was not for electoral purposes, as the indictment alleges, but to avoid the shame of his family if Daniels said publicly that he had had sexual relations with the tycoon.
District Attorney Alvin Bragg convinced a Manhattan grand jury a year ago to indict the former president on 34 counts. And yesterday he called the first witness in the trial, David Pecker, who was editor of the tabloid National Enquirer. Bragg wants to show that Trump and Pecker agreed in 2015, when he filed for candidacy, on a plan to boost his campaign. Part of this plan was to cover up scandals, such as that of Stormy Daniels, through bribes. During the presidential campaign, Trump made another bribe, of $150,000, to playboy model Karen McDougal, which was covered by the National Enquirer. Bragg wants to use these allegations to prove that there was a bribery scheme to electorally benefit the candidate, so it constituted a campaign finance crime.
Two people directly related to the bribery are also scheduled to testify in the coming days: Daniels, called by Trump’s defense, and Cohen, called by the prosecution. The trial cannot be televised, although journalists can attend the courtroom. Yesterday they watched as Trump made disapproving motions with his hands and head as the prosecution made its case. He also turned his gaze several times, according to the media present, to the members of the jury, who in the coming weeks will face the pressure and responsibility of trying for the first time a former president charged with criminal charges.
