The prosecution in the hush money trial argues that Trump coordinated a criminal operation

Prosecutors claimed on the first day of Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial that the former US president attempted to conceal his sex acts with a porn star and a Playboy model in order to break the law. Trump’s defense team, however, dismissed the allegations, arguing that Trump did not break any laws.

The case is “about conspiracy of fraud,” according to prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, who made his opening statement in New York Court on Monday. “The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election,” the prosecutor added.

The goal of this well-thought-out, protracted plot was to sway the 2016 election in favor of Donald Trump by using illicit funds to intimidate opponents of his actions.Colangelo was reported by news agency Associated Press as saying, “It was election fraud, pure and simple.”

Todd Blanche, Trump’s attorney, refuted the accusations, declaring that the president is innocent. There were no crimes committed by President Trump. It was improper for the Manhattan district attorney’s office to file this lawsuit.

The issue concerns the $130,000 (more than Rs 1 crore) in hush money that was paid to porn actress Stormy Daniels before to the 2016 presidential election in order for her to remain silent about a ten-year-old alleged sexual encounter. There are allegations against Donald Trump that he fabricated company documents to hide the payment. It is a former US president’s first-ever criminal trial.

ESSENTIAL LESSONS FROM THE OPENING STATEMENTS
The prosecution said that the payments of hush money to a porn star who claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Trump were evidence that the case was primarily about election meddling. Attempts were made from the beginning to intensify the seriousness of the case, which is the first criminal trial of a former US President and the first of four Trump cases to go before a jury.

According to the prosecution, Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt” the 2016 presidential election and then repeatedly lied in his New York company documents to conceal the illegal conspiracy.

The jury was told by prosecutor Colangelo that Trump’s “catch-and-kill” plan with the tabloid National Enquirer to stifle negative reports about him was done only to support his presidential campaign in 2016.

In his not-guilty plea, Trump denied the existence of the sexual encounter. When the jury heard allegations of the former president’s alleged romance with Daniels and his boasts about touching women’s genitalia in the notorious Access Hollywood video, he seemed uneasy during the opening remarks.

In his jury charge, Trump’s attorney said that his client had committed no crimes. There is nothing improper about attempting to sway an election. We refer to it as democracy. They paint this notion in a negative light, treating it as a criminal offense, attorney Blanche stated.

Additionally, David Pecker, the former CEO of American Media, took the oath of office as the trial’s first witness. He had consented to serve as the Trump campaign’s “eyes and ears,” according to the prosecution, and was a part of Trump’s scheme to stifle negative headlines about him.

With Joe Biden potentially facing a criminal conviction and jail sentence, the issue is expected to play out in the context of a hotly fought White House battle between Donald Trump and Biden. Rather than spending his days on the campaign road, Trump will have to spend them in a courtroom during the trial, which could last up to two months. A guilty decision may harm his campaign, even if it wouldn’t prevent him from assuming office.

Said to be the least significant of Trump’s four criminal charges, the case could be the only one to get to trial before the election on November 5.

Which case is it?
Donald Trump was accused by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office of 34 charges of fabricating company documents to conceal a USD 130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels last year. In exchange for Daniels’ silence on a ten-year-old alleged sexual encounter with Trump, Trump’s former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen paid her during the 2016 campaign.

In 2006, Daniels claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump, one year after he married Melania Trump, the future first lady.