A defence lawyer countered by saying that Trump "was innocent" and that the case should never have been brought.
Donald Trump "orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt" the 2016 presidential election when he conspired to prevent damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public, a prosecutor told jurors on Monday at the start of the former president's historic hush money trial.
The statements offered the 12-person jury — and the voting public — a roadmap for how to view the allegations at the heart of the case. In his opening statements, Colangelo traced the origins of the effort to the emergence late in the 2016 campaign of the 2005recording in which Trump could be heard boasting about grabbing women sexually without their permission.
The prosecutor described other payments as well that were part of what's known in the tabloid industry as a "catch-and-kill" ploy — catching a potentially damaging story by buying the rights to it and then suppressing or killing it through agreements that prevent the paid person from telling the story to anyone else.
Trump arrived at the courthouse shortly before 9am, minutes after castigating the case in capital letters on social media as "election interference" and a "witch hunt". Hearing the case is a jury that includes, among others, multiple lawyers, a sales professional, an investment banker and an English teacher. As court began on Monday, Judge Juan Merchan disclosed that one of the jurors selected for the case had conveyed reservations about participating, apparently because of the intense media attention. The juror was questioned privately but will remain on the case.
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