NEW YORK—In a historic first in the United States, former Republican President Donald Trump is on trial for falsifying business records to cover up a $130,000 pay-off to prevent adult star Stormy Daniels from speaking on an affair the two had in June 2006. He also faces an array of other charges, totaling an indictment on 34 felony counts. The trial officially commenced on Monday, April 22, after jury selection last week.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office announced the charges against Trump last spring, including alleged felony violations of falsifying documents in a scheme to influence the 2016 election in the former president's favor. After a tumultuous jury selection process, Trump was seen in a Manhattan courtroom Monday resigned and quiet, wearing a blue necktie.
Trump pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in April 2023. Now that the trial has begun, the details of the case already made public in the indictment, and an initial statement of facts document released by the district attorney's office is now before a New York court judge, Juan Merchan, and a 12-member jury.
Prosecutors accused Trump of engaging in a "catch-and-kill" scheme to suppress any bad press about him in order to get elected. He enlisted the assistance of David Pecker, the former publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer. This scheme, prosecutors argue, included former Trump attorney Michael Cohen paying off Daniels.
"This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior," said Matthew Colangelo, one of the prosecutors, in opening remarks on the first day of proceedings
via Reuters. He characterized it as "election fraud, pure and simple."
According to the same Reuters report, Colangelo told the jury that Trump coordinated the scheme, as revealed by a mountain of evidence and witness testimonials. Counsel for Trump characterized the trial as pointless.
"There's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election," Todd Blanche, an attorney for Trump, told the court. "It's called democracy. They put something sinister on this idea, as if it's a crime."
Pecker was the first witness in the prosecution's case to take the stand. He simply prefaced the catch-and-kill scheme that he would later explain on the second day of the trial.
The court has placed Trump on several gag orders. He's posted criticisms of the judge and his daughter to his followers on Trump-owned Truth Social. He's also seemingly criticized two key witnesses, Cohen and Daniels.
Cohen was indicted in 2018 by federal prosecutors for a campaign finance law violation, tax evasion, and other counts. Cohen's $130,000 payment to Daniels was included in the campaign finance violation "scheme," according to
a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
Cohen pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years, serving most of his sentence in home confinement. According to the Associated Press, he was
released in 2021. Cohen and Daniels are expected to testify in the coming days.
Stormy Daniels is an AVN Hall of Fame director/performer and multi-award winner. She authored a memoir titled Full Disclosure, which featured details surrounding the Trump affair in 2006. She is also the subject of the original Peacock documentary Stormy discussing the aftermath of the scandal, the reporting on it, and her personal challenges.
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal sold the rights to her story that she had a months-long affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. National Enquirer paid McDougal a catch-and-kill fee of about $150,000 for her story.
AVN will report on today's day-two trial proceedings this evening.
