As the first criminal trial for a former U.S. president got under way in New York, Donald Trump looked on as prosecution and defense teams presented their opening statements to the jury.
The former president is charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records, a felony in New York if done to cover up another crime. The prosecution argued hush money payments made by former Trump fixer Michael Cohen to adult film star Stormy Daniels were to buy her silence about an alleged affair with Trump and were made at the former president’s direction with the intention of influencing the 2016 election.
The defense countered it was not illegal to affect the outcome of an election and that Cohen had handled the specifics of the hush money payments.
