Trump criminal trial wraps for the day after opening statements and first witness

Prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys delivered opening statements and the first witness — a former National Enquirer publisher — was called Monday in the historic and unprecedented criminal trial of a former president.

Each side got their first chance to lay out a theory of the case for jurors. Prosecutors told jurors that the reimbursement of hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels was part of a larger conspiracy to influence the 2016 presidential election.

The former president’s attorneys responded by telling the jury that Trump was innocent and not involved in the creation of the 34 business records he’s charged with falsifying. They also pointedly added that there’s “nothing wrong with trying to influence an election.”

Here are key takeaways from Monday:

• Prosecutors say Trump schemed "to corrupt the 2016 presidential election": The district attorney’s office framed the case for jurors as illegal payments to try to influence illicitly influence the 2016 election that Trump then tried to illegally cover up by falsifying business records. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo walked the jury through Trump’s efforts, along with Michael Cohen and former American Media Inc., chief David Pecker, to keep damaging information from coming to light during the 2016 election.
• Defense says Donald Trump is innocent: Defense attorney Todd Blanche began his opening statement with a simple assertion: “Donald Trump is innocent.” Blanche told the jury that the story isn’t as simple as prosecutors laid out and argued that Trump was not involved with any of the business records he’s accused of falsifying beyond signing the checks. Blanche didn’t dispute the paper trail existed, but he argued to the jury there was nothing illegal about signing non-disclosure agreements — or trying to influence an election.
• Tabloid publisher testifies first: Prosecutors called former AMI CEO David Pecker as the first witness in their case against Trump. He testified for less than 30 minutes Monday morning before the trial adjourned for the day. He’s expected to continue testifying Tuesday. Colangelo teed up the former tabloid publisher as a key player in Trump’s “catch and kill” scheme to control the public narrative about him ahead of the 2016 election.
• Gag order hearing will lead off court on Tuesday: Before the trial resumes Tuesday, Judge Juan Merchan is holding a hearing on allegations that Trump violated the judge’s gag order barring discussion of witnesses. The district attorney’s office asked the judge to fine Trump $1,000 for each of several gag order violations leading up to and since the trial started. In addition to the fines, prosecutors want the judge to remind Trump he could be imprisoned if he continues to disobey the order.
• Trump was thinking about the $175 million bond hearing down the street: Meanwhile, other lawyers for Trump were in a courtroom a block away arguing over the legitimacy of the $175 million bond Trump posted to appeal the judgment in his civil fraud trial. Trump, who could not attend the civil hearing because he’s required to attend each day of the criminal trial, railed against Attorney General Letitia James.

Speaking to reporters Monday after opening statements in his criminal trial in Manhattan, former President Donald Trump declared that the crimes committed by his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen “had nothing to do with me.” 

Cohen is expected to be a key witness for the prosecution. Trump said: “The things he got in trouble for were things that had nothing to do with me. He got in trouble; he went to jail. This has nothing to do with me. This had to do with the taxicab company that he owned, which is just something he owned – and medallions and borrowing money and a lot of things – but it had nothing to do with me.” 

Facts First: Trump’s claim that Cohen’s prison sentence “had nothing to do with me” is false. Cohen’s three-year sentence in 2018 was for multiple crimes, some of which were directly related to Trump. Most notably, Cohen was sentenced for campaign finance offenses connected to a hush money scheme during the 2016 presidential campaign to conceal Trump’s alleged extramarital relationships -- the same hush money scheme that is central to this prosecution against Trump. Cohen was also sentenced to two months in prison, to run concurrently with the three-year sentence, for lying to Congress in 2017 in relation to previous talks about the possibility of building a Trump Tower in Moscow, Russia, including about the extent of Trump’s involvement in the aborted Moscow initiative and about when in 2016 the discussions ended. (The discussions continued into June 2016, the month after Trump became the presumptive Republican nominee, and did not conclude in January 2016 before the first votes were cast, as Cohen had claimed.)

Referring to Trump as “Individual-1,” Cohen said at the time of his 2018 guilty plea for making false statements to the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence: “I made these statements to be consistent with Individual-1’s political messaging and out of loyalty to Individual-1.” When Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to the campaign finance violations, he said he broke the law “in coordination and at the direction of a candidate for federal office,” Trump. 

David Pecker will be back on the stand on Tuesday to continue testimony in the hush money trial against former President Donald Trump. Not only is he the first witness to answer questions from the prosecution, but he is also a critical piece of how the state is trying to prove criminal intent, one former federal prosecutor said.

Criminal intent means that “not just an act happened, but an act happened for a purpose,” said Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst. “The defendant did something wrong to carry out some criminal purpose.”

As the then-chairman of American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, Pecker was involved in numerous “catch-and-kill” schemes he orchestrated on behalf of Trump, and he allegedly helped broker the deal with adult film star Stormy Daniels which is at the center of the case.

“It’s not just the catch-and-kill payments, but catch-and-kill payments for the purpose of concealing information from voters in the context of an election,” Williams explained, referring to the 2016 presidential election. 

Williams said it’s likely that prosecutors will focus much of their questioning trying to uncover what was discussed in meetings between Pecker and Trump.

The question at the heart of the argument, Williams said, is if the payments were intended to conceal information from voters, “or was it just Donald Trump saying, ‘Well, you know, this is embarrassing to my wife and my kids, I really want to keep this hidden.’”

Former President Donald Trump’s first criminal trial is expected to take six to eight weeks from start to finish.

This trial, related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, is the first of four ongoing criminal cases that are expected to head to trial for the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee.

Now that opening statements are done, prosecutors are presenting trial evidence through witness testimony and exhibits. David Pecker, the ex-publisher of the National Enquirer, will resume testimony Tuesday.

Defense attorneys can cross examine the prosecution’s witnesses and typically aim to discredit their testimony. Witnesses’ responses are considered evidence, but not the questions posed by an attorney.

Read more about the stages of the trial, and what they mean here.

Michael Cohen, who is expected to be a key witness in Donald Trump’s criminal trial, jabbed back at his former boss in response to comments Trump made about him outside the courtroom Monday.

Speaking to reporters in the courtroom hallway after court concluded, Trump said Cohen’s crimes have “nothing to do with me."

“He got in trouble, he went to jail. This has nothing to do with me,” said Trump. “This had to do with the taxicab company that he owned, which is just something he owned — and medallions and borrowing money.”

Shortly after those comments. Cohen posted on social media, “Hey Von ShitzInPantz … your attacks of me stink of desperation. We are all hoping that you take the stand in your defense. 

Cohen, who is Trump’s former attorney, served time in federal prison after pleading guilty to breaking federal campaign laws when he facilitated the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels, which is directly linked to the charges against Trump.  As for the taxi medallions that Trump referenced, Cohen was also sentenced for tax evasion related to a taxi medallion enterprise and lying to a bank in relation to a home loan. 

Trump is under a gag order and was ordered by Judge Juan Merchan not to comment about any witnesses in the trial.

CNN's Daniel Dale contributed to this post.

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom where Donald Trump's hush money trial is underway, but a sketch artist captured the scene as opening statements unfolded and the first witness took the stand.

President Joe Biden and his allies have nearly tripled Donald Trump’s network in ad spending over the last month and a half while the former president has had to devote millions of campaign funds to legal expenses — and sit in a New York courthouse for his hush money trial.

Since March 6, after Super Tuesday when Trump effectively secured the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, through April 21, Biden’s campaign and other Democratic advertisers spent $27.2 million on advertising for the presidential race, while the Trump campaign and GOP advertisers spent about $9.3 million, according to AdImpact data.

Ad spending data (presidential race, March 6 to April 21)

• Democrats: $27,153,293
• Republicans: $9,344,948

During that time, Biden's campaign has spent millions in key battleground states, including $4.1 million in Michigan, $3.9 million in Pennsylvania, and at least $2 million in Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia. And the Biden network has used its plentiful airtime to promote the administration’s first-term record and slam Trump, focusing on key issues such as the cost of living and abortion rights.

Meanwhile, Trump’s network has failed to match that effort since he became the presumptive nominee, though a pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., recently ramped up its advertising, booking over $1 million worth of airtime in Pennsylvania to coincide with Biden’s recent campaign swing through the state last week.

Trump has also benefited over that stretch from a nearly $3 million anti-Biden campaign from outside groups aligned with the oil and gas industries, which have been running ads in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, criticizing California fuel standards defended by the Biden administration. But despite some recent signs of activity, Trump’s network has been significantly outspent on the airwaves since his general election matchup with Biden came into focus. And the latest round of FEC filings shows how Biden’s fundraising edge is enabling that advertising advantage, as Trump’s ongoing legal battles drain millions from his campaign coffers.  

The first criminal trial of a US ex-president is underway in New York, where former President Donald Trump faces charges from the Manhattan District attorney related to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016. 

This is the first of four criminal cases expected to go to trial for Trump, also the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee. CNN compiled a timeline of the key events leading up to the historic trial. 

Here’s how we got here: 

• September 2016: Donald Trump discusses a $150,000 hush money payment understood to be for former Playboy model Karen McDougal with Michael Cohen who secretly records the conversation. McDougal has alleged she had an extramarital affair with Trump beginning in 2006, which he has denied. 
• October 7, 2016: The Washington Post releases an "Access Hollywood" video from 2005 in which Trump uses vulgar language to describe his sexual approach to women with then show host Billy Bush. 
• October 27, 2016: According to prosecutors, Cohen pays Daniels $130,000 to her attorney through a shell company in exchange for her silence about an affair she allegedly had with Trump in 2006. This $130,000 sum is separate from the $150,000 paid to McDougal. Trump has publicly denied having any affairs and has denied making the payments. 
• November 8, 2016: Trump secures the election to become the 45th president of the United States. 
• February 2017: Prosecutors say Cohen meets with Trump in the Oval Office to confirm how he would be reimbursed for the hush money payment Cohen fronted to Daniels. Under the plan, Cohen would send a series of false invoices requesting payment for legal services he performed pursuant to a retainer agreement and receive monthly checks for $35,000 for a total of $420,000 to cover the payment, his taxes and a bonus, prosecutors alleged. Prosecutors also allege there was never a retainer agreement. 
• January 2018: The Wall Street Journal breaks news about the hush money payment Cohen made to Daniels in 2016. 

See the full timeline. 

 

The hush money criminal trial against former President Donald Trump is just one of four criminal cases he faces while juggling his presidential campaign.

The former president is facing at least 88 charges over the four criminal indictments in Georgia, New York, Washington, DC, and Florida. Trump has pleaded not guilty to every charge in these cases. 

Here's a recap of each case: 

• Hush money: Trump was first indicted in March 2023 by the Manhattan district attorney on state charges related to a hush-money payment to an adult film star in 2016. Prosecutors allege Trump was part of an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of the 2016 election. Further, they allege he was part of an unlawful plan to suppress negative information, including the $130,000 payment. 
• Classified documents: Trump was indicted in June 2023 by a federal grand jury in Miami for taking classified national defense documents from the White House after he left office and resisting the government’s attempts to retrieve the materials. The National Archives said in early 2022 that at least 15 boxes of White House records were recovered from the estate, including  some that were classified. The charges were brought by special counsel Jack Smith. 
• Federal election interference: Smith separately charged the former president last August with four crimes over his efforts to reverse the 2020 election results. The indictment alleges Trump and a co-conspirator "attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them ... to delay the certification" of the election. That case is currently on hold as the Supreme Court weighs Trump’s claims of presidential immunity in the matter. 
• Fulton County: State prosecutors in Georgia brought a similar election subversion case against Trump and others. An Atlanta-based grand jury on August 14, 2023, indicted Trump and 18 others on state charges stemming from their alleged efforts to overturn the former president’s 2020 electoral defeat. A trial date has not yet been set in that case. 

Read more about the four criminal cases Trump faces.