footage: YouTube
New York prosecutors said on the first day of Donald Trump’s silence-buying criminal trial that the former president broke the law and tainted the 2016 election by trying to cover up his sexual relations with a porn star and Playboy model. “, reported Reuters.
His lawyer said he had committed no crime.
Jurors in the historic trial heard briefly from the prosecution’s first witness: former National Enquirer publisher David Packer, who prosecutors say was involved in a scheme to cover up unflattering stories about Trump and help get him elected.
In the first-ever trial against a former US president, Trump is accused of falsifying business documents to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels in 2016 to keep quiet about a sexual relationship she alleged. that they had 10 years earlier. Trump does not plead guilty and denies that the meeting took place, adds BTA.
Prosecutors portrayed the payment as a criminal effort to defraud voters at a time when Trump faces other allegations of sexual misconduct.
“This was a planned, coordinated, long-term conspiracy to influence the 2016 election to help get Donald Trump elected through illegal spending on the silence of people who had something bad to say about his behavior,” prosecutor Matthew said. Colangelo. “This was pure and simple election fraud.”
Trump’s lawyer told the jury that the former president had committed no crimes.
“There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy. They’re putting something sinister into that idea, like it’s a crime,” said Trump attorney Todd Blanche.
The case is seen by many legal experts as the least consequential of the allegations against Trump, based on facts that have been public since 2018. A conviction would not prevent him from taking office, but it could hurt his candidacy.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that half of independent voters and one in four Republicans say they would not vote for Trump if he were convicted of a crime.
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