Prosecutors call first witness before Trump trial adjourns: Live updates

Trump told reporters as he left the courtroom that the trial went “very well” Monday.

The former president went on to complain that the case was “very unfair” and was keeping him from campaigning.

“They take this payment and they call it a legal expense, and you heard today for the first time, this is what I got indicted on. This is what took me off — and takes me off — the campaign trail. Because I should be in Georgia now; I should be in Florida now. I shouldn’t be a lot of different places right now campaigning, and I’m sitting here and this will go on for a long time. It’s very unfair.”

— Brett Samuels

Judge Juan Merchan adjourned for the day, after David Pecker gave brief testimony about himself and his job as former CEO of American Media.

On Tuesday, the judge will hold a hearing regarding what prosecutors say are several violations of a gag order imposed on Trump.

Jurors are expected back at the court tomorrow at 11 a.m. to resume Pecker’s testimony.

— Ella Lee

The jurors have been excused for the day. Court was expected to have a short day because of the Passover holiday. A juror’s medical appointment set the end time a bit earlier.

David Pecker testified that any “juicy stories” were run by him before publication, and he had final say on what was published.

A deputy, then-National Enquirer Editor-in-Chief Dylan Howard, ran the paper’s “network of sources.”

“His job was to make sure we had the most exclusive and current content,” Pecker said.

— Ella Lee

David Pecker served as the CEO of American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer and other publications.

Pecker is expected to testify about a meeting he had with Trump and his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, two months after Trump announced his 2016 presidential campaign.

In the meeting, Pecker allegedly agreed to look for negative stories about Trump and alert Cohen before they were published. That agreement is what sparked the hush money deals at the center of the case.

— Zach Schonfeld

Alina Habba and Chris Kise, attorneys who represent Trump in his civil fraud case, were spotted by pool reporters in the hallway outside the courtroom.

This morning, Habba and Kise were scheduled to appear in a courthouse down the street to defend Trump’s bond in his fraud case. The hearing reportedly adjourned after the parties reached an agreement.

“The fact that we have two courts — not one — criminal and civil, being used against one man because they cannot beat him in the polls is a disgrace to the American judicial system. You should not have two teams of lawyers here today,” Habba told reporters.

— Zach Schonfeld

The district attorney’s office has called David Pecker, ex-CEO of American Media Inc., as its first witness. He’s taking the stand.

— Ella Lee

Opening statements from the prosecution lasted about 45 minutes, and Trump’s defense took just a bit less time, around 35 minutes.

— Ella Lee

Opening statements have concluded. The judge said the court will take a 10-minute break.

— Zach Schonfeld

Blanche urged the jury to find Trump not guilty by using “common sense.”

“We’re New Yorkers; it’s why we’re here,” he said.

“If you do that, there will be a very swift ‘not guilty’ verdict,” he added.

— Ella Lee

Moving on from Cohen, Blanche next went after one of prosecutors’ other expected, high-profile witnesses: Stormy Daniels, the porn actress who was paid the hush money at the center of the case.

Trump had unsuccessfully sought to block her testimony. Blanche told jurors that Daniels “doesn’t know anything” about Trump’s actual charges, which correspond to alleged documents created in paying Cohen after he sent the hush money.

“Her testimony, while salacious, does not matter,” Blanche said.

— Zach Schonfeld

Within minutes, Trump attorney Todd Blanche started going after Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-fixer who made the hush money payment at the center of the case and is expected to be prosecution’s star witness.

Blanche noted Cohen’s many media appearances expressing an excitement to see Trump convicted and also brought up instances where Cohen was found to have lied.

“I submit to you that he cannot be trusted,” Blanche said.

Todd Blanche took aim at the district attorney’s portrayal of the case as an effort by Trump and his allies to influence the 2016 election.

“I have a spoiler alert: There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election,” Blanche said. “It’s called democracy.”

— Ella Lee

The former president turned his body sideways to watch his attorney give opening remarks in his first criminal trial. His eyes have occasionally wandered over to the jury box and the judge, but he appears intently focused on his attorney’s remarks.

— Ella Lee

Todd Blanche said the 34 counts of falsifying business records Manhattan prosecutors brought against Trump are “really just 34 pieces of paper.”

The records include Michael Cohen’s allegedly bogus invoices for legal fees, Trump’s checks reimbursing Cohen and ledger entries documenting the reimbursements in Trump’s accounting records.

“None of this was a crime,” he said.

— Ella Lee

Todd Blanche is one of Trump’s two lead attorneys in his hush money trial, though Blanche also represents the former president in two of his other three criminal cases.

Blanche is a white-collar defense attorney and former prosecutor who was brought into Trump’s orbit when he represented Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort, and later longtime Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn.

As Trump was indicted on the hush money charges last spring, Blanche left his law firm to continue representing the former president.

— Zach Schonfeld

Trump attorney Todd Blanche began his opening arguments by proclaiming that “President Trump is innocent.”

He said that while the former president is in some ways “larger than life,” he’s also a husband, father and “person just like you and just like me.”

“He’s also here in this courtroom, doing what any of us would do: defending himself,” Blanche said.

— Ella Lee

Before coming to the district attorney’s office to work on the criminal investigation of Trump, Matthew Colangelo previously served as a senior leader in the Biden-era Justice Department. He also investigated the Trump Foundation while working in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s (D) office.

Trump has attacked Colangelo, in particular, as part of the former president’s attempts to portray his charges as politically motivated. But under a gag order imposed in recent weeks, Trump is largely barred from singling out the prosecutor.

— Zach Schonfeld

Matthew Colangelo told the jury that Michael Cohen, Trump’s ex-fixer who is expected to be a key witness, has “made mistakes in the past.”

The prosecutor noted his guilty plea to past campaign finance and other charges, and that he lied to various entities to cover up his role in the scheme.

“You will need to keep an open mind,” Colangelo said.

— Ella Lee

After Cohen used his own money to pay adult film actress Stormy Daniels to keep quiet over her alleged affair with Trump, prosecutors said the former president and his then-fixer misrepresented the reimbursement as “income.”

Colangelo argued Trump could not write a $130,000 check with a memo reading “reimbursement for porn star payoff,” so the men had to “disguise the nature of their payment.”

“They agreed to cook the books and make it look like income instead of a reimbursement,” Colangelo said.

The prosecutor said Cohen was paid a total of $420,000, after adding additional cash for taxes and a bonus since they would attempt to classify the payment as Cohen’s income.

The payment and alleged attempt to cover it up is at the heart of the district attorney’s case.

— Ella Lee

Colangelo argued that Trump’s efforts to silence unflattering stories about him ahead of the 2016 election were “election fraud.”

“It was election fraud — pure and simple,” the prosecutor said.

— Ella Lee

Prosecutors intend to play a recording of Trump discussing with Michael Cohen how to pay ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of their affair at some point during the trial, Colangelo said.

In the recording, which was obtained in 2018 by CNN, Trump apparently suggests paying cash to Pecker’s media company, which covered the $150,000 payment to McDougal for limited life rights to her story.

— Ella Lee

Prosecutors said Trump and his allies aimed to “corrupt” the 2016 election in three ways.

First, Colangelo said, Pecker acted as “eyes and ears” for the campaign, using his media sourcing to gather information harmful to Trump, so the former president could prevent it from becoming public — a tactic known as “catch-and-kill.”

Second, the tabloids were used to publish flattering information about Trump.

And third, the same publications attacked Trump’s adversaries, the prosecutor said.

— Ella Lee

In opening remarks, Manhattan prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said the case against Trump is about a “criminal conspiracy and a cover-up.”

Shortly after Trump announced his candidacy for the 2016 presidential election, he met with his then-fixer, Michael Cohen, and media publisher David Pecker at Trump Tower, Colangelo said. There, they conspired to influence the 2016 election, the prosecutor argued.

“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up,” Colangelo said. “The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election and then covered it up.”

— Ella Lee

As jury instructions are being read, Trump has shifted his gaze between the judge and the panel of jurors who will determine his fate.

He is facing forward with his arms crossed between his defense attorneys, sometimes tilting his head side to side.

In his instructions to the jury, Judge Juan Merchan reminded the New Yorkers that Trump is “presumed to be innocent.”

He told the jurors that Trump is not required to prove he’s not guilty; prosecutors with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s (D) office carry the burden of proving his guilt.

— Ella Lee

If Trump takes the stand, prosecutors can raise on cross-examination that a different New York judge found Trump violated the law by misstating the value of his assets for economic benefit and was barred from serving in top leadership positions for New York businesses.

They can also raise that he violated that judge’s gag order after making attacks on his clerk.

In addition, prosecutors can bring up that juries found he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll in two separate cases and the outcome of a 2018 case involving the Donald J. Trump Foundation.

— Ella Lee

Before entering the courtroom, Trump in the hallway railed against New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) as she prepares to face off with Trump’s attorneys over his $175 million bond in his civil fraud case.

James has asked a judge to void the bond, and the judge will hold a hearing on the matter Monday.

“When you put up cash and the number is $175 — which is what we’re supposed to be putting up — but I gave it in cash,” Trump said. “She shouldn’t be complaining about the bonding company; the bonding company would be good for it because I put up the money. And I have plenty of money to put up, but nobody is going to be putting up with this.”

— Zach Schonfeld

After discussing her concerns in private, the juror who raised issue with media attention will remain on the panel.

— Ella Lee

A New Yorker seated on Trump’s jury raised concerns with Merchan about the trial’s extensive media attention and wasn’t “100% sure” they wanted to serve on the panel, the judge said.

Lawyers for Trump, Manhattan prosecutors and the judge will discuss the matter with the juror in private, he said.

The juror is a woman from New Jersey who lives on the Upper East Side and works as a speech therapist.

— Ella Lee