The jury is hearing the case of a criminal conspiracy

Once again, Mr. Trump, the 77-year-old presumed Republican nominee for president, is accused of fabricating 34 business documents to conceal a payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the final days of the 2016 election. The former president disputes Ms. Daniels’ testimony, which could be used in court, that she and Mr. Trump had a sex encounter in 2006.

Hey, Mr. Along with rejecting the 34 felony accusations, Trump has claimed that the Democrats are behind them. Should Trump be found guilty, he could serve up to four years in prison or be placed on probation.

Five things can be learned from Mr. Trump’s fifth day of the trial:.

The prosecution has a fascinating tale to share.

Although Mr. Trump’s charges seem tame—”falsifying business records” doesn’t exactly make the heart race—the prosecution made it plain on Monday that it intends to present a far more comprehensive picture.

A story about tabloid journalism, shady dealings, and secretly recorded phone calls was presented by prosecutor Matthew Colangelo in his opening statement. It is probable that the jury will be informed about happenings in Trump Tower, opulent hotel rooms, and even the Oval Office. The presidency is the stakes, too.

All of that implies that during the roughly six weeks the case is expected to take, jurors will be kept very alert. In fact, over half of the individuals in the jury box—six alternates and twelve jurors—raised their hands when asked if they would like paper and pens to take notes.

Who Are the Main Characters in the Manhattan Criminal Trial of Trump?

The first criminal case involving the former president Donald J. Trump has begun. Examine the key players in the case in more detail.

To destroy prosecution witnesses is the defense’s goal.

Hey, Mr. Todd Blanche, the lead attorney for Trump, used his opening remarks to characterize the events leading up to this lawsuit as routine business, asserting that Mr. Trump is defending himself in court as “any of us would do.”. “.

According to him, Ms. Daniels’ signing of the nondisclosure agreement following payment was customary for celebrities and the rich, and it was “nothing illegal.”. It’s called democracy, he said, adding that there was nothing wrong with attempting to sway an election. “.

Alright, Mr. Additionally, Blanche attacked Mr. Cohen, a former attorney and Mr. Trump’s fixer. He called Mr. Cohen a “criminal” who “cannot be trusted,” after he entered a guilty plea to federal campaign finance charges in 2018. “Ms. Daniels was “biased” against Mr. Trump, he continued, and she made a career out of her account of the sex encounter.

He referred to the core of the prosecution’s case as “34 pieces of paper” that are unrelated to Mr. Trump.

Throughout the shortened court day, Trump was quiet.

Letitia James, the attorney general of New York, and the judge in a recent civil fraud case that resulted in a $454 million judgment against Mr. Trump were among the many people he felt were his enemies during his roughly three-minute address to reporters on his way into the courtroom on Monday.

However, Mr. Trump’s actions during the opening remarks showed that he was aware of the seriousness of the situation.

Dear Mr. At times, Trump expressed his disapproval, shaking his head slightly at claims that he planned a plot to rig the presidential election and more angrily when the prosecution said he was guilty of felonies. Nevertheless, Trump remained silent throughout the prosecution’s opening statement.

Mr. Trump watched his attorney, Mr. Blanche, largely expressionless and unmoving during his side’s opening statement. Mr. Trump exhibited a more subdued demeanor in contrast to his previous court appearances in Manhattan.

However, after the trial day ended, Mr. Trump sat down in front of a TV camera in the hallway as per his preference and spoke for over nine minutes, criticizing the prosecution’s case as unjust once more.

News about celebrities used to be David Pecker’s lifeblood. He is now the news.

The first witness called by the prosecutors was David Pecker, the National Enquirer’s longtime publisher. He walked to the stand and immediately began lecturing on the ins and outs of tabloid journalism, including how to buy articles (anything over $10,000 required his approval) and the importance of featuring a well-known face up front.

“In Mr. Dot Pecker’s testimony, the magazine cover was the only thing that mattered.”.

During his roughly 30-minute testimony, Mr. Pecker revealed trade secrets about sourcing, stating that limo drivers and hotel staff might be a goldmine of information about the wealthy and well-known.

He appeared relaxed as he laughed at the jokes of the prosecutor and occasionally spoke to the jury face-to-face from a few feet away.

We are proceeding quickly.

Juan M. Merchan, the presiding judge, has made it clear during the course of the last five trial days that he is keen to keep the proceedings proceeding as planned. It appears that he is committed to honoring his promise to the jurors that the trial will go for six weeks.

With only thirty minutes remaining on his schedule, he chose to begin with the first witness on Monday due to a juror’s dental emergency and the Passover holiday.

First up for consideration on Tuesday is a prosecution move to hold Mr. Trump in contempt for remarks he made recently, which they claim violated a gag order intended to prevent him from disparaging trial participants and their families.

The prosecution’s main plot point, the “catch-and-kill” plan to buy up and hide unfavorable stories, will likely be further explored by Mr. Pecker when he continues to testify.

Once again, court will end early, at 2:00 p.m. me. , for additional Passover observance, and will subsequently observe its weekly Wednesday break.

That being said, there’s little sign that Justice Merchan will slow down as the weeks go by.

Mr. Colangelo narrated a story about paying hush money to a porn star and declared, “This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up,” maintaining that the former president was ultimately accountable.

There would be “only one conclusion: Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records in the first degree,” Mr. Dot Colangelo declared at the end. “.

Mr. Trump’s main attorney, Todd Blanche, disagreed sharply with Mr. Colangelo’s presentation and insisted that the jury clear the former president. He asserted that Mr. Trump had behaved in a normal and lawful manner.

Invoking the former president’s preferred mode of address, Mr. Blanche told the jury, “President Trump did not commit any crimes.”. The attorney reminded the jurors that Mr. Trump was the presumed Republican nominee and stated that he had earned the right to be called “president.”.

Alright, Mr. Using nondisclosure agreements, which he claimed businesses, celebrities, and the rich and powerful all regularly use, Blanche maintained that they are not unlawful. He added that it was incorrect for the prosecution to insinuate that Mr. Trump’s campaign for the presidency involved any criminal activity.

“I’ll give you a hint: attempting to sway an election is perfectly acceptable,” Mr. Dot Blanche declared. Democracy is the name of it. “.

Alright, Mr. Blanche made an attempt to discredit Mr. Cohen, a crucial prosecution witness, by claiming that he received payment for legal services. Mr. Blanche labeled Mr. Cohen as a “criminal” who “cannot be trusted” and implied that the only reason he was testifying was because he was turned down for a position in the Trump White House.

He also attacked Stormy Daniels, the former porn star who said she had sex with Mr. Trump, calling her a money-making opportunist who took advantage of a brief meeting with Mr. Trump for his reality show, “The Apprentice.”.

He went on to say that Ms. Daniels was “biased” against the former president and that her account of the sex encounter was how she supported herself.

Alright, Mr. Attempting to downplay the allegations, Blanche claimed that the former president had nothing to do with the “34 pieces of paper” that form the basis of the case.

Alright, Mr. Trump is charged with fabricating company records, which is a crime if prosecutors can prove the changes were made with the intention of committing or covering up another offense.

Thirty-four counts were officially brought against the former president a year ago, and the district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg gave reporters a list of three possibilities and stated that he did not have to identify the second crime. Mr. Colangelo made it plain in his opening remarks that he thought the best case rested on one of those theories: persuading the jury that Mr. Trump had broken a state statute that prohibits “conspiracy to promote or prevent an election.”. “.

Mr. Prosecutors claim that in August 2015, Trump and Mr. Pecker, along with Mr. Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, devised a scheme to support his fledgling presidential campaign. It is anticipated that each of the former Trump supporters will testify in turn, providing evidence that could lead to his conviction as the first president to be found guilty of a felony.

The Alvin L. prosecutors. In an attempt to influence the election, Manhattan district attorney Bragg will make the case that the hush money payment made to the porn star at the center of the case was a part of a larger scheme to stifle critical news about Mr. Trump. According to their argument, that plan consists of two additional transactions, both involving Mr. Dot Pecker.

Dear Mr. June 2015 was the announcement that Trump would run for president. Court records, interviews with witnesses to the events, private correspondence, and other records all point to a straightforward plan that the men outlined two months later.

Alright, Mr. Pecker would publish favourable articles about Mr. Trump’s campaign and unfavourable articles about his opponents using The Enquirer. When The Enquirer learned of stories that might pose a threat to Mr. Trump, he would notify Mr. Trump through Mr. Cohen. The tabloid industry refers to this tactic as “catch and kill,” whereby The Enquirer purchases the rights to those stories in order to suppress them. “.

Late in 2015, Mr. Pecker’s business spent $30,000 to quell a former doorman at a Trump building who claimed to have heard an unfounded rumor that Mr. Trump was the father of an extramarital child. Then, in August 2016, Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, received a $150,000 payment from The Enquirer’s parent company to suppress her claims of having an affair with Mr. Trump. After two months, Mr. Cohen was assisted by Mr. Pecker and the editor of The Enquirer in settling a $130,000 hush-money dispute with Stormy Daniels, the former porn star who also claimed to have had sex with Mr. Trump. He has refuted the assertions of both women.

Dear Mr. In 2018, Cohen entered a guilty plea to federal offenses related to campaign financing.

The parent firm of The Enquirer, American Media Inc. struck a deal that year admitting it had attempted to sway the election illegally in order to avoid facing federal prosecution.

Hey, Mr. The court adjourned for the day after Pecker’s brief appearance on the stand in the afternoon. He said that “checkbook journalism” was the method used by his newspaper, The National Enquirer, to finance stories. Tuesday is anticipated to see him back on the stand.

In his opening statement, Manhattan District Attorney’s office prosecutor Matthew Colangelo described the case to the jury as involving “a criminal conspiracy and a coverup,” detailing how Mr. Trump, his longtime attorney Michael D. Cohen, and Mr. Pecker used a plot to “catch and kill” negative stories.

In his opening remarks, Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s lead attorney, emphasized that the former president had done nothing wrong. He declared, “President Trump is innocent,” to the jury. “There is nothing illegal that President Trump has done.”. “.

In order to purchase Stormy Daniels’ silence as the 2016 election was coming to an end, Mr. Cohen paid her $130,000 in hush money, which is at the heart of the case. As per the prosecution, Mr. Trump reimbursed him, and in order to hide his actions, Mr. Trump fabricated financial records.

Hey, Mr. According to Colangelo, the payment to Ms. Daniels followed another controversy, namely the “Access Hollywood” tape in which Mr. Trump boasted about groping women. He stated that the testimony of Ms. Daniels “may have been devastating to his campaign.”. “.

“Debbie accepted the payment and gave Cohen the go-ahead to proceed as pressure mounted and Election Day drew near,” he continued. “.

Mr. Two key witnesses are anticipated to be Mr. Pecker and Cohen, who served as Mr. Trump’s attorney and executive vice president at the Trump Organization.

Hey, Mr. Blanche called into question Mr. Dot Cohen’s credibility, claiming that his source of income is disparaging the former president. She also maintained that the prosecution was trying to paint a bad picture of perfectly lawful actions like signing noncease agreements.

Mr. Blanche stated, “I have a spoiler alert: Trying to influence an election is not wrong.”. It’s known as democracy. “.

“They placed something sinister on this idea as if it were a crime,” he went on. You’ll discover that it’s not. “.

Here are some more details regarding the trial:.

The Manhattan district attorney, Alvin L., announced the criminal case against Mr. Trump a year ago. Go Bragg. If found guilty on all 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, Mr. Trump could spend a maximum of four years in prison. Since Mr. Trump allegedly attempted to hide another crime, those are felonies, according to the prosecution. The conspiracy to promote an election, which is not one of the specific charges but is allegedly a part of the entire crime, was a violation of state election law that they emphasized strongly on Monday.

Despite having been indicted three times in three different cities, this is the former president’s first criminal trial. The Manhattan case can be the only one he takes on before the 2024 presidential election, since the other cases are bogged down in appeals and other complications. Six weeks is how long the trial is supposed to run.

The case’s presiding judge rendered a significant decision prior to the commencement of opening arguments, dictating the kinds of questions that prosecutors may ask Mr. Trump should he choose to enter the witness stand. This year’s fraud case, in which the former president was found guilty of conspiring to manipulate his net worth and fined $454 million, is one of the major victories for prosecutors, and it may lead to Mr. Trump choosing not to testify. The ruling permits them to question Mr. Trump about several recent losses he sustained in unrelated civil trials.

The jury was selected from among Manhattan residents, where Mr. Trump enjoys extreme unpopularity. Numerous potential jurors were disqualified during the selection process on the grounds that they were unable to be impartial. However, each of the chosen jurors promised to render a verdict based solely on the evidence. Study up on them.

There will be a lot of media coverage of the case, but television coverage of the proceedings will not occur.

However, when they entered the room, Donald J., a defendant, was present. Trump is unmatched by any president in US history.

A man and a woman who had applied to be jurors were eventually excused. They had no idea, however, how the experience would put them in the public eye.

One’s previous posts on social media about the former president drew criticism from Mr. Trump’s advocates. For a period of six weeks, the other member of the jury was unable to close her medical practice.

Even if they were not selected as jurors, their experiences show how intensely the public was following Mr. Trump’s trial and how this jury was the first to consider the fate of a former US president in a criminal trial.

Only after being released from their duties did they get in touch with The New York Times. The identities of potential jurors are protected by court rules, but The Times is withholding their names and the majority of personally identifiable information about them until after they are dismissed from service.

Both submitted comprehensive personal information, including their place of employment, on the juror questionnaires, just like the other potential jurors who were taken into consideration.

When information about their lives began to circulate online, they were taken by surprise. They were forced to respond to those questions by speaking into a microphone in front of the court. They expressed their frustration at the amount of time and effort spent vetting potential jurors and gathering background data.

Even though they subsequently found out that Justice Juan M. Merchan, the case’s judge, had mandated the redaction of some of the material jurors were required to disclose in public, they believed he had moved too late. The beats and even some of the parameters are being written in real time, just like with many other trial-related aspects.

Some of the experiences they had were similar to those recounted by other rejected potential juries. One man, who went by Mark to NBC News, claimed he had “satirized Mr. Trump often in my artwork” and that he had anticipated not being selected as a result.

Given the nature of her work, a woman going by the name Kara told NBC News that serving on any criminal jury, but especially this one, was extremely difficult.

She claimed it was “extremely startling” to see Mr. Trump in person. She realized that he was just “another guy.”. “.

When the man was led into the courtroom on the 15th floor of the Manhattan criminal courthouse, he did not immediately realize what case he was involved in, according to the prospective juror who spoke with The Times. A week prior, after reading a news article regarding the trial starting the week she was meant to answer a summons for jury duty, the woman had a feeling.

Five minutes into the first panel of 96 potential jurors brought into the courtroom on Monday afternoon, the man, seated a few rows behind the prosecutors’ table, began to feel at ease. He believed that Trump was only a defendant. The case involved business records. The defense attorneys were on one side and the prosecutors on the other.

As Mr. Trump and his attorneys were introduced to the group, the woman claimed to have been struck by the fact that he stood and waved to potential jurors. She thought it more resembled the actions of a political candidate running for office than that of a criminal defendant. ) Mr. Needless to say, Trump is both. ).

Todd Blanche, Mr. Trump’s lead attorney, tried to gauge the opinions of potential jurors about Mr. Trump, which turned off both of them. The woman was sharper, describing a “witch hunt” to root out Democrats on the panel who were sympathetic — a term Mr. Trump frequently uses to criticize the various prosecutors looking into his conduct. The man said that Mr. Blanche seemed “folksy” in a way that he found disingenuous.

The man was especially irritated that he was questioned regarding previous social media comments he had made criticizing Mr. Trump, which Mr. Blanche’s team brought up and which Justice Merchan finally decided meant the man should be pardoned.

The man took offense at the suggestion that he couldn’t have been fair because he thought he could have been. He and the woman, who expressed their belief in the jury service system, mentioned that they had taken an oath at the start of the day promising to make an unbiased and fair decision based on the provided evidence. The man thought his personal opinions, especially those held years ago, had no influence on how he assessed the evidence. He said that if anything, he would have done so with extreme caution.

It had dawned on both of them how much being on that jury would mean.

However, they were also aware of the dangers and fallout that might result from considering the evidence against Mr. Trump, especially since their private information was accessible to the general public. And as a result, both were worried about being picked; the man specifically mentioned that his spouse had been concerned.

Being a part of the historic trial would have meant something to both of them. However, both felt relieved that they were passed over.