Trump trial: Prosecution say hush money was 'pure election fraud
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The execution in Donald Trump's hush- plutocrat trial indicted the former chairman of a felonious conspiracy and cover- up to hide a sex scandal ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
"It was election fraud, pure and simple," a counsel told the jury during opening statements on Monday at the major trial in New York.
Setting out the case for the defence, Mr Trump's lawyer said his client had committed no crimes and that it was not illegal to try to influence an election.
"He is cloaked in innocence," he said.
Mr Trump is indicted of trying to cover up a$ 130,000(£ 104,500) payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before he won the race for the White House back in 2016.
He has contended not shamefaced to 34 counts of falsifying business records and also denies having an alleged sexual hassle with Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.
At the launch of the alternate week of the felonious trial in Manhattan the first ever of a former US chairman- each side set out the case they will present to the jury. The first substantiation, tabloid publisher David Pecker, also took the stage briefly and will continue his evidence on Tuesday.
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the court that Michael Cohen, Mr Trump's former counsel and confidante, worked with the Trump Organization's principal fiscal officer, Allen Weisselberg, to" cook the books" at Mr Trump's direction.
Prosecutors contended that the scheme to disguise how Cohen was refunded for the payment to Ms Daniels involved falsifying three forms of records- checks, tally entries and cheques.
Mr Trump said in his business records that those payments were" for legal services pursuant to a retainer agreement" with Mr Cohen, Mr Colangelo told the jury.
"Those were lies," the prosecutor said
Critically for this case, he said that Mr Trump was motivated to give the lucre so choosers didn't learn of the alleged hassle with Ms Daniels.
Prosecutors said that this cover- up should be considered election hindrance, which constituted a alternate crime. That elevated the charge of falsifying business records from a lower- position misdemeanour into a more serious felony.
They claimed the ignominious Access Hollywood tape recording, which surfaced weeks before the 2016 election and showed Mr Trump boasting about being suitable to have coitus with anyone because he's notorious, had shocked his crusade.
" The defendant and his crusade staff were deeply concerned that it would irreparably damage his standing with womanish choosers in particular," Mr Colangelo told the court.
But when Ms Daniels came forward a day latterly professing a sexual hassle with Mr Trump, it compounded the problem created by the tape recording, Mr Colangelo contended.
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| Tabloid publisher David Pecker testified against his long-time friend photo credit: Reuters |
The public exposure" would have been devastating to his crusade, so at Trump's direction Cohen negotiated a deal", Mr Colangelo told the jurors. The execution alleges Mr Pecker the former master at American Media Inc, which owns the National Enquirer- and Mr Cohen bandied how to keep it quiet.
The defence's disproof was fairly simple in comparison.
The public exposure" would have been devastating to his crusade, so at Trump's direction Cohen negotiated a deal", Mr Colangelo told the jurors. The execution alleges Mr Pecker the former master at American Media Inc, which owns the National Enquirer- and Mr Cohen bandied how to keep it quiet.
The defence's disproof was fairly simple in comparison.
Mr Blanche appeared intent on casting prosecutors' star substantiation- Cohen- as an untrustworthy former hand with an dismissal to grind against the former chairman.
" He is a condemned felon and a condemned perjurer- he is an admitted fabricator," Mr Blanche said of Cohen.
He also zeroed in on Ms Daniels, who he said had earned" hundreds of thousands" of bones with her claims. The defence counsel told the jury to reduction her as a substantiation.
He went on to dismiss the exemplifications of allegedly false records as" 34 pieces of paper" that didn't involve his customer.
As for the case prosecutors made for election hindrance, Mr Blanche denied that his customer had done anything illegal indeed if he'd tried to sway choosers.
" There is nothing wrong with trying to impact an election," Mr Blanche said." It's called republic."
The trial is anticipated to last about another six weeks, but legal experts say opening statements are particularly important as an occasion to shape jurors' views on the case.
" You need to start out strong in a case like this," former civil prosecutor Neama Rahmani told the BBC.
Mr Rahmani noted that the execution's sweats to elevate this to an election hindrance case may be tough with a jury that includes two attorneys.
" It's clear the records were false business records, but to take that coming step to prove they were in headway of, or to cover up, a crusade finance donation, is a more delicate legal argument and they are going to need to do a lot further than that in my opinion.
" This is going to come down to Michael Cohen," he concluded, and whether his evidence backs up what he has said in the history and whether he has documents to prove it.
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