Trump Trial: Prosecutors Say Trump Engaged In Criminal Conspiracy And A Cover-Up

With the just ended trial for Donald Trump, prosecutors say Trump engaged in criminal conspiracy and a cover-up.

Trump’s historic trial on 34 felony counts of falsifying corporate documents began in Manhattan on Monday. During opening arguments in the first criminal trial of a former US president, prosecutors told jurors that Trump engaged in a “criminal conspiracy and a cover-up” by attempting to conceal a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump’s lawyers said that the payment and how it was reported did not violate any laws. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election; it’s called democracy,” defense attorney Todd Blanche said. “They added something evil to this idea, as if it were a crime. You’ll discover it’s not.”

Key Lines From Prosecutors During Opening Arguments

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said jurors that Trump’s hush money payments broke campaign finance regulations. “This was a premeditated, coordinated, long-running plot to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected by unlawful expenditures, and to suppress anyone who had negative things to say about his behavior by utilizing doctored company documents. It was election fraud, plain and simple. Colangelo stated that he will show the jury recordings of Trump asking his then-attorney Michael Cohen to pay Daniels, including what he claimed was Trump’s statement, “So what do we gotta pay for this, $150?” Colangelo claimed the payment to Daniels was part of a bigger plot including Trump, Cohen, and former National Enquirer owner David Pecker.

Key Lines From Defense During Opening Arguments

Blanche opened his presentation with a statement that he thinks would stick in the minds of the jury. “President Trump is innocent,” he declared, constantly referring to his client as if he were still president. “President Trump has not committed any crimes. The Manhattan District Attorney’s office should never have filed this lawsuit. Blanche also targeted one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, who arranged and paid Daniels. “Unbeknownst to President Trump, in all the years that Mr. Cohen worked for him, Mr. Cohen was also a criminal,” she said. “He cheated on his taxes, he lied to banks, he lied about side businesses.”

First Witness, David Pecker

Prosecutors invited Pecker to testify about his attempts to aid Trump in the run-up to the 2016 election, which included purchasing potentially damaging stories about him and then burying them. Prosecutors claimed the strategy, known as “catch and kill,” violated campaign funding regulations. “We used checkbook journalism, and we paid for stories,” Pecker said.

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