After the jury was selected last week, the trial of Donald Trump’s first criminal case in New York began on Monday with the prosecution and defense speeches.
In contrast to the defamation case initiated by E. Jean Caroll, or the fraud case that almost led to the judicial seizure of Trump Tower, the case being discussed now is already a criminal case, although in terms of its severity, it is perhaps the mildest of the proceedings against the politician.
What is the case about?
At the heart of the case is the silence money paid to the porn actress Stromy Daniels, which is not illegal in itself.
However, according to the charges, the recording of the payment was false, so Trump can be suspected of document forgery.
However, given that it was a 2015 incident, it is already statute-barred unless it was committed to cover up another crime. And this is through meddling in the 2016 presidential election and violating New York state and federal campaign finance laws.
The prosecution therefore outlines a conspiracy, which, in addition to Trump, includes his former manager and lawyer, Michael Cohen – who was previously convicted by the court for his transactions with Stromy Daniels and David Pecker, who in 2015 is the head of the company that publishes the National Enquirer newspaper volt. The head of the tabloid magazine and Trump have concluded an agreement under which the paper will buy the rights to stories that cast a negative light on the businessman, so they cannot appear during the campaign, according to a Reuters summary.
According to the indictment, the money paid to Stormy Daniels was also part of this solution, but when Cohen paid it, he sent an invoice for legal fees to Trump. Cohen may be one of the prosecution’s most important witnesses in the case.
According to the defense, if there was a crime, Trump is not responsible
Accordingly, the defense is trying to pin the irregularities related to the silence money on Cohen’s neck. According to Trump’s lawyer, there is no problem with interfering in the election, as this is called democracy. According to the defense, Trump had no influence on the accounting, nor could he help the fact that his lawyer turned out to be a criminal in the meantime. The defense also lashed out at Stormy Daniels, who, according to them, only saw the case as an easy money-making opportunity.
By the way, Trump denies that he had a sexual relationship with the woman.
On the first day of the trial, David Pecker also spoke as a witness, who explained the essence of tabloid journalism and also said that he personally authorized all payments over $10,000.
Before the trial began, Judge Juan Merchan ruled that if Donald Trump took the stand, prosecutors could cross-examine him about his other business lawsuits, including the civil lawsuit in which he was fined hundreds of millions of dollars by another court. However, the judge did not allow the prosecution to show a film about Donald Trump in the courtroom.
Although there are several other criminal cases against Trump in the process of dealing with classified documents or for his attempts to change the outcome after the 2020 election, they will probably not go to trial before the presidential election in November.
