NEW YORK, United States: Prosecutors said Monday that Donald Trump engaged in “election fraud” by pay off a porn star just days before the 2016 White House vote in a bid to protect his presidential aspirations as the first ever criminal trial of a former US president started.
The former US president is accused of paying hush money to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 White House election.
“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up,” Matthew Colangelo, the Assistant District Attorney, said in his statement before the jurors. “He orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election.”
The Assistant District Attorney while laying out the prosecution’s case for the jury said Donald Trump falsified business records to buy Stormy Daniels’s silence over a 2006 sexual encounter believing the revelation could have impacted his presidential bid.
“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” he said.
As Colangelo delivered his opening remarks, Trump, flanked by his lawyers, sat at the defence table staring straight ahead. The former US president was wearing a dark blue suit and blue tie with an American flag pin on his lapel.
The case poses ample risks to Trump coming less than seven months before his November election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.
Prosecution witnesses are likely to include Daniels and Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former fixer, who arranged the alleged payment to the porn star.
“President Trump did not commit any crimes,” one of his attorneys said in his opening statement. Todd Blanche said: “The Manhattan DA should never have brought this case. “I have a spoiler alert: there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election,” Blanche said. “It’s called democracy.”
Former publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, David Pecker, was the first witness called by prosecutors. He alleged he was used to bury negative stories about Trump, a policy known as “catch and kill.”
The former tabloid publisher was only briefly on the stand before Judge Juan Merchan adjourned the court for Tuesday (today).
Campaign trail
The Republican presidential candidate Trump (77), speaking to media in a hallway after the court session, again insisted he had done nothing wrong. He claimed the case was brought to derail his 2024 White House bid.
“This is a Biden witch hunt to keep me off the campaign trail,” he added.
The trial will keep the Republican candidate in court for four days a week over a possibly six-to-eight-week period.
