Trump trial: Court adjourns with ex-National Enquirer publisher David Pecker set to resume testimony

A
prosecutor
on
Monday
told
jurors
that

Donald
Trump
led
a
criminal
hush
money
scheme
to
influence
the
2016
presidential
election,
while
Trump’s
attorney
argued
there
was
nothing
criminal
—
or
even
unusual
—
about
the
former
president’s
actions.

“This
case
is
about
a
criminal
conspiracy”
by
Trump
to “corrupt
the
2016
election,”
prosecutor
Matthew
Colangelo
told
the
jury
in his
opening
statements
in Manhattan
Supreme
Court.

“Then
he
covered
up
that
criminal
conspiracy
by
lying
in
his
New
York
business
records
over
and
over
and
over
again,”
he
said.

“We’ll
never
know,
and
it
doesn’t
matter,
if
this
conspiracy
was
a
difference
maker
in
the
close
election,”
Colangelo
told
the
jury. “It
was
election
fraud,
pure
and
simple.”

Once
Colangelo
finished,
Trump’s
attorney
Todd
Blanche
shot
back,
saying, “The
story
you
just
heard,
you
will
learn,
is
not
true.”

Blanche
began
by
noting
that
Trump
is
not
only
a
former
U.S.
president,
but
also
the
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee
in
the
current
election
cycle.

“We
will
call
him
President
Trump
out
of
respect,”
Blanche
said.

“I
have
a
spoiler
alert:
There’s
nothing
wrong
with
trying
to
influence
an
election,”
Blanche
added. “It’s
called
democracy.”

After
both
sides
delivered
their
opening
statements,
prosecutors
called
David
Pecker,
the
former
CEO
of
National
Enquirer
publisher
American
Media,
as
their
first
witness.

But
Pecker
was
on
the
stand
only
briefly
before
Judge
Juan
Merchan
excused
the
jury
for
the
day.
A
juror
had
previously
informed
the
court
that
they
had
to
attend
an
emergency
dentist
appointment.

The
jury
will
return
to
the
courtroom
Tuesday
around
11
a.m.
ET,
after
Merchan
holds
a
hearing
to
consider
Trump’s
alleged
violations
of
the
gag
order
in
the
case.

The
order
bars
him
from
speaking
about
likely
witnesses
and
their
participation
in
the
case.
On
Thursday,
prosecutors
said
Trump
had
violated
it
seven
times
since
jury
selection
had
begun
that
Monday.

The
District
Attorney
wants
Merchan
to
hold
Trump
in
contempt
of
court
and
fine
him
$1,000
for
each
violation.
Trump
downplayed
the
charges
as
he
left
the
courtroom.

“It’s
a
case
as
to
bookkeeping,
which
is
a
very
minor
thing
in
terms
of
the
law,”
Trump
said. “They
called
a
payment
to
a
lawyer
a
legal
expense
in
the
books,”
Trump
said. “I
got
indicted
for
that.”

“This
is
what
they
try
and
take
me
off
the
trail
for,”
the
presidential
candidate
added. “It’s
very
unfair.”

Pecker
was
deeply
involved
in
alleged
efforts
ahead
of
the
2016
presidential
election
to “catch
and
kill”
negative
information
about
Trump,
the
Republican
nominee
in
that
contest.

Pecker
allegedly
warned
Trump’s
then-attorney
Michael
Cohen
in
late
2016
about
porn
star
Stormy
Daniels’
claim
that
she
had
sex
with
Trump
years
earlier
while
he
was
married.
Cohen
paid
$130,000
to
Daniels
less
than
two
weeks
before
the
election,
which
Trump
went
on
to
win.

American
Media
earlier
in
2016
also
allegedly
paid
$150,000
to
former
Playboy
model
Karen
McDougal,
who
also
says
she
had
an
extramarital
affair
with
Trump.

Colangelo
described
how
Trump,
Cohen
and
Pecker
first
conspired
to
influence
the
election
during
a
summer
2015
meeting
at
Trump
Tower.
There,
Pecker
agreed
to
act
as
the “eyes
and
ears”
for
Trump
by
flagging
potentially
harmful
information
to
Cohen.

“Cohen’s
job
really
was
to
take
care
of
problems
for
the
defendant,”
Colangelo
told
the
jury. “He
was
Trump’s
fixer.”

To
carry
out
the
scheme,
Colangelo
said,
Trump
and
others
used
a
practice
known
as “catch
and
kill:”
The
publication
would
pay
for
the
exclusive
rights
to
a
story, and
then
never
publish
it,
thereby
catching
and
killing
it.

Not
only
would
they
bury
negative
stories,
but
they
also
agreed
to
publish
flattering
stories
about
Trump
and
spread
negative
news
about
his
opponents.
Colangelo
described
this
as
a
three-part
conspiracy
between
Trump
and
Pecker,
and
executed
by
Cohen
and then-National
Enquirer
editor-in-chief
Dylan Howard,
to
influence
the
election
outcome.

Trump
faces
34
counts
of
falsifying
business
records
to
conceal
his
reimbursement
to
Cohen
for
paying
off
Daniels.
Manhattan
District
Attorney
Alvin
Bragg
accuses
Trump
of
doing
so
to
influence
the
2016
election.

But
those
counts “are
really
just
34
pieces
of
paper,”
Blanche
argued. “None
of
this
was
a
crime.”

Trump
will
not
take
the
stand
Monday,
though
he
has
repeatedly
said
he
will
testify
in
the
trial.
If
he
does,
Merchan
ruled,
prosecutors
will
be
able
challenge
his
credibility
by
asking
him
about
a
range
of
court
decisions
that
are
not
directly
linked
to
the
hush
money
case.

Trump
in
a

post
Monday
morning
on
Truth
Social
defended
the
payments
to
Cohen
that
are
at
the
heart
of
the
case.

Bragg “says
that
the
payment
of
money
to
a
lawyer,
for
legal
services
rendered,
should
not
be
referred
to
in
a
Ledger
as
LEGAL
EXPENSE,”
Trump
wrote. “What
other
term
would
be
more
appropriate???”

Trump
in
that
post
also
complained
that
he
is
unable
to
campaign
for
president
this
week
because
he
is
required
to
attend
his
trial,
which
is
expected
to
last
around
six
weeks.

“It
is
also
the
perfect
Crooked
Joe
Biden
NARRATIVE
–
To
be
STUCK
in
a
courtroom,
and
not
be
allowed
to
campaign
for
President
of
the
United
States!”
he
posted.

The
opening
statements
and
witness
testimony
were
delivered
to
a
jury
of
12
members
and
six
alternates,
who
were
seated
last
week
for
the
historic
trial.

Dozens
of
potential
jurors
quickly
disqualified
themselves
from
the
process
by
declaring
they
could
not
be
fair
and
impartial
in
deciding
on
the
charges
against
the
former
president
and
current
presumptive
Republican
presidential
nominee.
Others
were
excused
from
service
after
lawyers
found
past
social
media
posts
criticizing
Trump.

The
former
president’s
attorneys
made
about
a
dozen
separate
attempts
to
delay
or
dismiss
the
trial
in
the
weeks
leading
up
to
it.

This
included
a
request
Friday
afternoon
that
a
Manhattan
appeals
court
pause
the
case,
in
which
they
argued
that
Trump
cannot
receive
a
fair
jury
in
New
York
City,
where
polls
show
he
is
deeply
unpopular.

Merchan
had
seated
a
full
jury
that
same
day,
and
the
appeals
court
swiftly
rejected
the
last-minute
effort.