Western publications comment on the first day of the “money for silence” trial against Donald Trump

“In a featureless room on the 15th floor of Manhattan’s Criminal Courthouse, Donald Trump sat with his arms folded and his eyes fixed on the distance.” This is how the British newspaper “Telegraph” described the former American president at the beginning yesterday, in essence, of the so-called case against him for “buying silence”.

The Telegraph says it is one of only four foreign publications granted access to the courtroom.

The newspaper’s New York correspondent continued to describe the court scene, writing that while Trump’s team “gathered like a flock around the judge,” he himself, usually used to being surrounded by supporters, remained alone.

Room 59, where the case against Mr. Trump for hush money is being heard, has eleven blinding light fixtures and marks on the walls from now-removed posters. “It’s a far cry from the luxury the former president is used to. But with the trial expected to last at least six weeks, it’s a setting he will get to know well,” notes the Telegraph.

The publication recalls that Trump, who usually throws “furious outbursts at the judge”, yesterday remained “almost motionless, with his gaze fixed mostly ahead, occasionally muttering something to his lawyers or glancing at the jurors”.

The former president has previously winked at members of the press, but yesterday “his most animated gesture was shaking his head in response to words spoken by Judge Juan Mercan.

“Mr. Trump didn’t even turn around to watch a scathing 45-minute opening statement by U.S. Attorney Matthew Colangelo, in which he accused Mr. Trump of trying to ‘taint’ the 2016 election through an elaborate a scheme to “replace” negative stories,” notes the publication’s correspondent.

The former president relaxed in front of reporters and cameras only after leaving the courtroom, wrote the British newspaper “The Independent”. He spoke for nine minutes outside the Manhattan courthouse after opening statements and the first witness in his trial.

“What’s going on is very unfair and I should be allowed to run my campaign,” Trump said as he left the courtroom. “I have done nothing wrong,” he added.

“I should be in Georgia now, I should be in Florida,” the Washington Post quoted the former US president as saying.

In the first hearing of the first criminal trial against a former US president, prosecutors accused Donald Trump of leading a “planned, coordinated, years-long conspiracy to influence the 2016 election” that included secret payments of money to the porn actress, the publication noted. “This was election fraud pure and simple,” Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo said.

For 40 minutes yesterday, a prosecutor described the evidence that shows Trump broke the law. “The prosecutor’s presentation was quiet and measured, never raising his voice and keeping his hands in his pockets for most of the time he spoke,” notes the Washington Post.