In the hallway outside the courtroom, Trump denounced the case and other legal battles he is fighting, using his usual tirade and vitriol against the system he says is unfairly targeting him for political reasons. did.
“I should be in Georgia right now. I should be in Florida right now,” Trump said.
Colangelo spent about 40 minutes Monday morning laying out evidence showing Trump broke the law. The prosecutor's argument was calm and measured throughout, never raising his voice, and he kept his hands in his suit pockets for most of the time he spoke.
Prosecutors say Trump's crimes stemmed from a secret agreement with the National Enquirer to cover up bad stories about Trump's sex life during the presidential election year, a conspiracy that began in a meeting with Trump. He said that this had occurred. the tabloid's then-CEO David Pecker; and Michael Cohen, Trump's then-lawyer and fixer.
The agreement ultimately allows Cohen to hire adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep her alleged sexual relationship with President Trump years ago out of the public eye. A payment of $130,000 was to be arranged, prosecutors said.
Mr. Cohen is expected to testify that President Trump intentionally misrepresented the amount of the repayments to Mr. Cohen in order to hide the use of the funds.
Mr. Colangelo said Mr. Cohen's testimony would be “terribly” and convincing.
Colangelo acknowledged that Cohen “made a mistake,” but said, “The defense will do everything they can to get him to refuse to testify, precisely because his testimony is so damning.” .
When it was his turn to address the panel, Trump's lawyer, Todd Blanche, countered that the prosecution's case would fail because it was built on lies by Cohen.
“Unbeknownst to President Trump, over the years that he worked for Mr. Cohen, Mr. Cohen was also a criminal,” Blanche said. “He cheated on his taxes, lied to banks, and lied about his side job.”
Blanche said that when the FBI began investigating Cohen, Cohen tried to “blame Trump for virtually every problem” and continues to do so.
“Michael Cohen was obsessed with President Trump. He's still obsessed with President Trump,” Branch said.
Later that day, Cohen called Trump on social media using profanity: “Your attacks on me reek of desperation. We all expect you to come to our defense. .”
Mr. Cohen, who has pleaded guilty to perjury and felonies, is considered a central figure in prosecutors' case, and how jurors view him could ultimately decide whether to convict Mr. Trump. Colangelo said jurors will be confident Cohen is telling the truth about the hush money payments because his statements are corroborated by bank records, emails and text messages, as well as “testimony from other witnesses.” He said it would be.
Colangelo said jurors will hear “Donald Trump's own words on tape, in his social media posts, in his books, in videos of his speeches,” so Trump won't have access to incriminating evidence. He said he would submit some.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg (D) indicted Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records, alleging that he classified the repayments to Cohen as legal expenses.
The payments from Cohen to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, “were made at the direction and benefit of Donald Trump, and Trump made them with the specific purpose of influencing the outcome of the election,” Colangelo said. he said.
“No politician wants bad press. But the evidence at trial will show that this was not a spin or a strategy,” he said. “It influenced the 2016 election, helped get Donald Trump elected through illegal spending, and used falsified corporate records to silence people who had anything bad to say about Trump's actions. It was a planned, systematic, long-term conspiracy.”
Blanche pushed back against that characterization, saying the district attorney was trying to make the legal action look like a criminal conspiracy.
“There is nothing illegal about what happened between AMI, Mr. Pecker, Mr. Cohen and President Trump,” Blanche said, referring to American Media Inc., the Enquirer's parent company at the time. . “Things like this happen regularly, and newspapers decide what to publish and how to publish it. It happens all the time with famous people and wealthy people. Whether it's the plan or not. It doesn't matter. It's not against the law.”
Prosecutors said Trump was motivated in part to prevent Daniels from speaking publicly after the Washington Post reported in October 2016 that Trump grabbed a woman's genitals. He said that he was exposing the existence of the “Access Hollywood'' tape in which he made graphic comments about. Mr. Colangelo said Mr. Trump and his allies were trying to prevent further scandalous reports from surfacing, fearing further reports of sexual misconduct would hurt his candidacy.
