On a historic day in the United States, a New York jury heard opening arguments in the hush-money case against Donald Trump — the first criminal trial against a former president in the country’s history. The prosecution says the charges against Donald Trump amount to election fraud.

New York

In a landmark event for the United States, the first criminal trial against a former president, Donald Trump, commenced with opening arguments in New York. The case focuses on accusations that Trump falsified business records related to hush payments intended to silence Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress who claims to have had an affair with him. The prosecution has framed these charges as constituting election fraud. 

Donald Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal the transactions made to prevent Daniels from publicizing her allegations, especially in the context of the 2016 presidential election. Prosecutors assert that these actions were part of a concerted effort to manipulate election outcomes by suppressing damaging information.

In their defense, Trump's legal team has disputed the existence of the affair and the claim that Trump sought to obscure the payments. They highlighted Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer responsible for the payment to Daniels, and questioned his credibility due to previous falsehoods under oath. The defense also argued that efforts to influence elections are a normative part of democratic processes.

Notably, tabloid publisher David Pecker and Michael Cohen are admitted participants in attempts to bury negative news about Trump during the 2016 campaign. Cohen's payment to Daniels and subsequent reimbursement by Trump, recorded as legal fees, is at the heart of the prosecution's case.

The trial, unfolding over an anticipated six weeks, has already elicited wide public and media attention. Trump, maintaining his innocence, has criticized the proceedings as politically motivated, aimed at hindering his campaign efforts. He has expressed a willingness to testify, despite the risk this entails regarding questions about other legal entanglements.



‘Battlelines’ drawn as opening remarks in Trump hush money case heard

In an historic first, Donald Trump arrived at court for his criminal trial. He's accused of 34 counts of falsifying business records in order to hide hush payments that were made to buy the silence of an adult film actress who said she had a brief affair with him. The prosecution described the case in their opening statement as election fraud, pure and simple. Witnesses will show that this was not spin, said the prosecution, but a long-running conspiracy to silence people who had something bad to say. The first witness allegedly had a hand in that conspiracy. Tabloid publisher David Pecker has admitted to working with Trump to bury damaging news in the run-up to the 2016 election, which he eventually won. So has Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen, who paid the actress known as Stormy Daniels $130,000 and was later reimbursed by Trump for what was recorded as legal fees. The defense, pointing to Cohen's history of lying on the stand, argues there was no affair and no attempt by Donald Trump to hide the payment. Spoiler alert, said the defense, there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It's called democracy. And while the former president may be the one facing charges, he again attempted to put the U.S. justice system on trial in the court of public opinion. These are all Biden trials. This is done as election interference. Everybody knows it. I'm here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania and Georgia and lots of other places campaigning. And it's very unfair. Donald Trump has said he wants to testify in this case. But on Monday, the judge warned if he does take the stand, the prosecution has the right to ask him about his other legal issues, which otherwise would be off limits. The trial is expected to take about six weeks. Kristen Salumi, Al Jazeera, New York.

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