“This was, pure and simple, election fraud,” one of the prosecutors told jurors during opening statements at the historic trial in New York.
In presenting the arguments of the defense, Trump’s lawyer pointed out that his client has not committed any crimes and that it is not illegal to try to influence the election.
“He is innocent,” he adds.
Trump is accused of trying to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels before he won the 2016 race for the White House.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business documents and denies having an alleged sexual relationship with Ms Daniels.
At the start of the second week of the criminal trial in Manhattan – the first in US history against a president – each side laid out the arguments they will present to the jury. The first witness, tabloid publisher David Packer, also took the floor briefly and will continue his evidence on Tuesday (April 23).
Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo alleges that Michael Cohen, a former Trump lawyer and confidant, worked with Trump Organization chief financial officer Alan Weiselberg to “draw up accounting documents” at Trump’s direction and hide hush money payments that are fundamental to the case.
Those payments were allegedly made by Cohen to Ms Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, in connection with her allegation that she had had sexual contact with the former president. Trump has since reimbursed his former lawyer, despite being accused of concealing the payments.
Prosecutors allege that the payment scheme with Ms. Daniels involved the falsification of three types of documents – invoices, accounting records and checks.
Donald Trump stated in his business filings that those payments were “for legal services pursuant to a fee agreement” with Cohen, Colangelo told the jury.
“These were lies,” the prosecutor said.
Most importantly, however, he claims that Trump was motivated to provide the bribe so that voters would not learn about the alleged meeting with Ms. Daniels.
Prosecutors argued that the cover-up should be considered election interference and constitute the second offense, making the charge of falsifying business documents a more serious felony instead of a lesser-classified misdemeanor.
One piece of evidence they point to is the infamous Access Hollywood tape in which Trump bragged to TV host Billy Bush that he had tried to have sex with a married woman.
The judge allowed prosecutors to add a transcript of the video into evidence, but not the video itself. The key point for the district attorney’s office is that it shows how Trump’s political campaign panicked in 2016 when the Washington Post first reported the existence of the tape.
