By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER, JENNIFER PETLZ and MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Monday’s opening statements at the first criminal trial of a former American president provided a clear roadmap of how prosecutors will try to make the case that Donald Trump broke the law, and how the defense plans to fight the charges on multiple fronts.
Lawyers presented conflicting stories as jurors got their first view into the prosecution accusing Trump of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to suppress negative stories about him during his 2016 presidential campaign.
Still to come are weeks of what’s likely to be dramatic and embarrassing testimony about the potential Republican presidential nominee’s personal life as he simultaneously campaigns to return to the White House in November.
Here’s a look at some key takeaways from opening statements:
ELECTION FRAUD VS. ‘BOOKKEEPING’ CASE
Trump is charged with 34 counts of falsifying internal Trump Organization business records. But prosecutors made it clear they do not want jurors to view this as a routine paper case. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo repeatedly told jurors that at the heart of the case is a scheme to “corrupt” the 2016 election by silencing women who were about to come forward with embarrassing stories he feared would hurt his campaign.
“No politician wants bad press,” Colangelo said. “But the evidence at trial will show that this was not spin or communications strategy. This was a planned, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior.” He added: “It was election fraud, pure and simple.”
The business records charges come from things like invoices and checks that were labeled as legal expenses in Trump Organization records when prosecutors say they were actually reimbursements to former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen for a $130,000 hush money payment to porn actor Stormy Daniels. Daniels was threatening to go public with claims she had an extramarital sexual encounter with Trump. He says it never happened.
Prosecutors’ descriptions seem aimed at countering suggestions by some pundits that the case — perhaps the only one that will go to trial before the November election — isn’t as serious as the other three prosecutions he’s facing. Those cases accuse Trump of trying to overturn the 2020 election he lost to President Joe Biden and illegally retaining classified documents after he left the White House.
Trump, meanwhile, sought to downplay the accusations while leaving the courtroom on Monday, calling it all a “bookkeeping” case and “a very minor thing.”
TRUMP’S DEFENSE COMES INTO VIEW
Trump’s attorney used his opening statement to attack the case as baseless, saying the former president did nothing illegal.
The attorney, Todd Blanche, challenged prosecutors’ claim that Trump agreed to pay Daniels to aid his campaign, saying Trump was trying to “protect his family, his reputation and his brand.”
Blanche said the defense will argue that the whole point of a presidential campaign is to try to affect an election.
Blanche told jurors that it's democracy. They are making this idea seem evil, as if it's a crime. You will learn that it's not.
Blanche also depicted the ledger entries in question as routine actions done by a Trump Organization employee. Trump “had no