Deputy Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, in charge of making the opening statements of the prosecution in the criminal trial facing Donald Trump in a Manhattan court, charged against the former ruler and described the case as a plot of “criminal conspiracy and cover-up.”
“The defendant orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election, and then covered up the scheme by lying in his business records.over and over again,” added Colangelo while the former US president (2017-2021) shook his head and chose not to look at his face.
Trump is accused of falsifying business documents to buy the silence of porn actress Stormy Daniel – who claims to have had an affair with him in 2006 – for $130,000 and protect his 2016 election campaign.
The prosecution accuses the former president of creating a plan through his former lawyer Michael Cohenwho was supposedly in charge of making the payments, and the former editor of the National Enquirer magazine David Pecker, who would have used his media power to try to cover up Trump scandals.
But Colangelo went even further, stating that Trump, Cohen and Pequer met in 2015 to “help the campaign” by eliminating “negative stories” and choosing to publish others that affected internal rivals such as Republican Ted Cruz.
This, according to the deputy prosecutor’s account, is the “core” of a plot orchestrated through American Media Inc. (AMI), the parent company of the National Enquirer of which Pecker was an executive.
According to Colangelo, in this case, for which the former president is accused of 34 charges that could cost him up to four years in prison, payments were “disguised” and involved “electoral interference” in the 2016 elections, in which Trump won. to Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Besides, Colangelo referred this Monday to a payment of $30,000 that would have been paid to a former employee of Trump Tower who claimed to have information that the former president had an illegitimate son; as well as others that would have been carried out to cover up his ‘affairs’ with porn actresses Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels herself.
“The defendant did not in any way want this information about Karen McDougal “was made public because he was worried about the elections,” said the prosecutor, who stated that the jury will listen to a telephone conversation between Trump and Cohen about the alleged affair with McDougal.
Trump’s defense assures that the Republican is “innocent”
The defense of former President Donald Trump assured that the Republican politician is “innocent” and that he acted under the umbrella of “democracy.”
“I have a spoiler alert: there is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy. “They are trying to make it something sinister,” concluded lawyer Todd Blanche, in charge of opening today this first day of the initial arguments phase by Trump’s defense.
Blanche maintained that the payments made to Michael Cohen, a former lawyer who worked for Trump until 2017, worth $420,000 were made to compensate for his legal “services” and not to compensate him for orchestrating a scheme to hide information that could harm the ex-president, as alleged by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Blanche argued that Trump has the right to the presumption of innocence“something that some of his critics lose sight of,” and that the Prosecutor’s Office has presented “a very nice and simple story” because they do not understand that the figure of the former president “overflows reality.”
Likewise, he took advantage of this statement to criticize Stormy Daniels, whom he described as a “biased” person who has “made a career” selling her alleged affair with Trump.
And he also charged against Cohen, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal charges stemming of the payment, which he defined as “obsessed” with Trump.
“He has a goal, an obsession with taking down President Trump. He cannot be trusted, I assure you,” Blanche concluded.
Finally, Blanche addressed the jury asking them to use “common sense” when making a decision in this casethe first criminal offense faced by a former US president in the entire history of the country.
“Use your common sense. We are New Yorkers. That’s why we are here. If they do, there will be a verdict of innocence very quickly,” Blanche concluded.
With information from EFE.
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