Opening statements in Donald Trump‘s hush money trial are underway. For the first time in history, prosecutors are presenting a criminal case against a former American president to a jury, accusing Trump of a scheme to prevent damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public.
Here’s what to know:
- What the case is about: Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to bury stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign.
- What’s being said in opening statements: The prosecution is arguing that Trump’s hush money payments were mislabeled as legal services.
- Why the trial isn’t televised: New York state law regarding media coverage of court proceedings is one of the most restrictive in the country, but some reporters, including from the AP, are allowed inside the courtroom.
Prosecution hones in on ‘catch-and-kill’ operation
The plan was hatched at Trump Tower shortly after the then-presidential candidate had announced his candidacy. During that meeting, prosecutors say that David Pecker, then the publisher of the National Enquirer, agreed to “help the defendant’s campaign by working as the eyes and the ears of the campaign.”
As the prosecution makes their argument, jurors are largely stone-faced
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
All 18 jurors are looking directly at the veteran prosecutor, who stands at a lectern in the middle of the courtroom about halfway between them and Trump.
The prosecution argues that payments were mislabeled
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Colangelo, senior counsel to the district attorney, told jurors that though the payments to Michael Cohen, then Trump’s personal lawyer, were labeled as legal fees pursuant to a retainer agreement, there was no retainer and there were no legal services.
“The defendant was paying him back for an illegal payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the election. The defendant falsified those business records because he wanted to conceal his and others’ criminal conduct,” he said.
Opening statements have begun
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
“The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election. Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors.
Trump claims Judge Merchan is forcing him to skip his son’s graduation. Actually, the judge hasn’t ruled on that yet.
As the judge was giving jurors instructions about the trial, Trump’s campaign sent out a fundraising email to his supporters declaring, “THE HEARTLESS THUGS ARE FORCING ME TO SKIP MY SON’S GRADUATION!” and “THEY WANT TO RUIN MY LIFE!”
In reality, Judge Merchan has not yet ruled on the requests that court be adjourned on May 17 so the former president can attend his son Barron’s graduation, as well June 3 so one of the lawyers can attend their own child’s ceremony.
Merchan has previously said that he’s willing to adjourn for one or both days if the trial proceeds as planned. “It really depends on how we’re doing on time and where we are in the trial,” he said last week.
How TV news covers a trial with no cameras
Without cameras in the courtroom, CNN is emulating websites by using one-third of its screen for a running live blog of what is going on in the trial, written by three correspondents in the courthouse.
Meanwhile, pundits on both CNN and MSNBC, previewing opening statements, compared it to a movie trailer, a preview of coming attractions. “So many times, movie trailers are better than the movies,” said MSNBC’s Jose Diaz-Balart.
Judge Merchan bars prosecutors from bringing up two Trump legal cases
While allowing for Trump — if he testifies — to be questioned to a limited extent about his recent civil business fraud trial and writer E. Jean Carroll’s defamation lawsuits against him, Merchan declined prosecutors’ requests to bring up two other legal cases.
One was the 2022 New York criminal tax fraud trial of Trump’s business, the Trump Organization. The company was convicted by a jury. Trump wasn’t charged in that case.
The other is the nearly $1 million fine that a federal judge in Florida last year ordered Trump and one of his attorneys to pay. The judge levied the penalty after finding that Trump filed a “completely frivolous” lawsuit against his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton and others.
Judge Merchan explains the basics of court proceedings
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Prior to the start of opening statements, the judge is giving jurors instructions about trial procedure, the burden of proof and other aspects of their role. The jurors looked on attentively.
‘We are about to proceed with the trial of the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump’
Members of the jury have entered the courtroom. Trump turned in his seat and looked briefly in their direction.
“Good morning, jurors. We are about to proceed with the trial of the People of the State of New York v. Donald J. Trump,” said Judge Merchan.
Because the panel was selected over several days, this is the first time the full jury has been together. It’s also the first time jurors are seeing the courtroom packed with reporters, a departure from last week when the gallery was full of prospective jurors — or empty seats, as the groups were whittled down — and there were just a few reporters permitted inside.
Prosecutors can cross-examine Trump about several of his recent legal setbacks if he chooses to testify, judge rules
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ
Trump shook his head as Judge Merchan ruled that prosecutors could ask him about the outcome of his recent civil business fraud trial, in which another judge found that Trump, along with his business and key executives, fraudulently inflated his wealth on paperwork used to secure loans and insurance.
Merchan said prosecutors could challenge the former president’s credibility by questioning him about six legal determinations in four cases, including his $88.3 million in judgments for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
Strict limits will be placed on what prosecutors can question Trump about regarding those cases, including prohibiting them from eliciting the amounts of the monetary penalties imposed, said Merchan.
Judge Merchan will allow prosecution to introduce ‘Access Hollywood’ tape into evidence
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
He will not allow them to show the actual video in court.
Trump’s lawyers object to the use of a transcript. But Merchan said that in his view there is “no reason” why a transcript of the video, where Trump boasted about grabbing women’s genitals without permission, “should not be admitted into evidence.”
Court will end early today
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
An alternate juror has an emergency dental appointment this afternoon; court will adjourn at 12:30 p.m.
Before the juror’s tooth issue, Judge Merchan had previously planned to adjourn the trial at 2 p.m. because of Passover. He plans to end at 2 p.m. on Tuesday for the holiday.
The juror who expressed reservations over media attention will remain on the case
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Judge Merchan made the announcement after questioning the individual behind closed doors.
A juror seated for the trial has expressed reservations about continuing
By JENNIFER PELTZ, MICHAEL R. SISAK
Judge Juan M. Merchan said his understanding was “that the juror was concerned about the media attention” to the case and wasn’t “100% sure they wanted to be here today.”
The juror did show up to court Monday and will be questioned further in the judge’s robing room, out of the view of the press, he said.
Trump sits down in court ahead of opening statements
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, JENNIFER PELTZ
The former president filled his cheeks with air and exhaled before sitting down. Photographers quickly crowded around him, snapping photos ahead of the proceedings.
The gallery is packed with reporters, and the temperature in the courtroom is slightly warmer than on previous days, where the chill was a subject of much discussion.
Trump speaks out about ‘unfair’ trial
Before heading into the courtroom, Trump addressed a camera in the hallway, once again saying that it’s “unfair” he has to be there, rather than out campaigning.
He once again cast the trial as a “witch hunt” and a “shame” aimed at damaging his campaign.
“I’m here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania and Georgia and lots of other places campaigning and it’s very unfair,” he said.
Trump also spoke at length about another hearing taking place at a nearby court, regarding the $175 million bond he paid in his civil fraud case.
The scene outside the courthouse
A small group of anti-Trump protesters was outside the courthouse ahead of opening statements, chanting, “No one is above the law,” while members of the media and public lined up to get inside.
Police had discussed the possibility of closing the park across the street, Collect Pond Park, after a man set himself on fire there last week, but on Monday it remained open to the public, including protesters.
Trump arrives at the courthouse
He walked straight inside.
From the motorcade
After departing Trump Tower a little after 8:30 a.m., Trump is posting some of his most common refrains from Truth Social. “ELECTION INTERFERENCE!!!” he writes in one post. “WITCH HUNT!!!” in another.
IN PHOTOS: Week 1 of Trump’s hush money trial
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Why isn’t Trump’s trial televised?
Regulations limiting media coverage in courtrooms date back nearly a century, when the spectacle of bright flashbulbs and camera operators standing on witness tables during the 1935 trial of the man accused of kidnapping and killing Charles Lindbergh’s baby son horrified the legal community, according to a 2022 report by the New York-based Fund for Modern Courts.
Yet an interest in open government chipped away at these laws and — slowly, carefully — video cameras began to be permitted in courts across the country, often at the discretion of judges presiding in individual cases.
New York allowed them, too, on an experimental basis between 1987 and 1997, but they were shut down. Lobbyists for defense lawyers remain strong in New York and hold particular sway among lawyers in the state Assembly, said Victor Kovner, a former New York City corporation counsel who advocates for open courtrooms.
▶ Read more about why Trump’s trial isn’t televised and how it’s impacting media coverage.
The man who set himself on fire outside the courthouse last week died of his injuries
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
The man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
The New York City Police Department told The Associated Press early Saturday that the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital.
The man was in Collect Pond Park around 1:30 p.m. Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said.
A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed to the aid of the man, who was hospitalized in critical condition at the time.
Person rushed away on a stretcher after fire extinguished outside Trump hush money trial
▶ Read more about the man who set himself on fire.
Trump was forced to listen silently as potential jurors offered their opinions of him
He seems “selfish and self-serving,” said one woman. The way he carries himself in public “leaves something to be desired,” said another.
His “negative rhetoric and bias,” said another man, is what is “most harmful.”
Over the past week, Donald Trump has been forced to sit inside a frigid New York courtroom and listen to a parade of potential jurors in his criminal hush money trial share their unvarnished assessments of him.
It’s been a dramatic departure for the former president and presumptive 2024 GOP nominee, who is accustomed to spending his days in a cocoon of cheering crowds and constant adulation.
Now a criminal defendant, Trump will instead spend the next several weeks subjected to strict rules that strip him of control over everything from what he is permitted to say to the temperature of the room.
“He’s the object of derision. It’s his nightmare. He can’t control the script. He can’t control the cinematography. He can’t control what’s being said about him,” said Tim O’Brien, a Trump biographer and critic.
“And the outcome could go in a direction he really doesn’t want,” he added.
▶ Read more about what prospective jurors said about Trump.
The timing of this case lends to its significance
The allegations at the heart of this case don’t accuse Trump of an egregious abuse of power like the federal case in Washington charging him with plotting to overturn the 2020 presidential election, or of flouting national security protocols like the federal case in Florida charging him with hoarding classified documents.
But the New York prosecution has taken on added importance because it may be the only one of the four cases against Trump that reaches trial before the election. Appeals and legal wrangling have delayed the other three cases.
Here’s who could be called to testify
By MICHAEL R. SISAK
MICHAEL COHEN — Trump’s former lawyer and fixer. He was once a fierce Trump ally, but now he’s a key prosecution witness against his former boss. Cohen worked for the Trump Organization from 2006 to 2017. He later went to federal prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations relating to the hush money arrangements and other, unrelated crimes.
STORMY DANIELS — The porn actor who received a $130,000 payment from Cohen as part of his hush-money efforts. Cohen paid Daniels to keep quiet about what she says was a sexual encounter with Trump years earlier. Trump denies having sex with Daniels.
KAREN MCDOUGAL — A former Playboy model who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump in the mid-2000s. She was paid $150,000 in 2016 by the parent company of the National Enquirer for the rights to her story about the alleged relationship. Trump denies having sex with McDougal.
DAVID PECKER — The National Enquirer’s former publisher and a longtime Trump friend. Prosecutors say he met with Trump and Cohen at Trump Tower in August 2015 and agreed to help Trump’s campaign identify negative stories about him.
HOPE HICKS — Trump’s former White House communications director. Prosecutors say she spoke with Trump by phone during a frenzied effort to keep allegations of his marital infidelity out of the press after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape leaked weeks before the 2016 election. In the tape, from 2005, Trump boasted about grabbing women without permission.
▶ Read more about the key players in Trump’s hush money trial.
Jail time is just one of the stakes Trump faces
Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and could face four years in prison if convicted, though it’s not clear if the judge would seek to put him behind bars. A conviction would not preclude Trump from becoming president again, but because it is a state case, he would not be able to attempt to pardon himself if found guilty. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
Unfolding as Trump vies to reclaim the White House, the trial will require him to spend his days in a courtroom rather than the campaign trail. He will have to listen as witnesses recount salacious and potentially unflattering details about his private life.
Trump has nonetheless sought to turn his criminal defendant status into an asset for his campaign, fundraising off his legal jeopardy and repeatedly railing against a justice system that he has for years claimed is weaponized against him.
WATCH: Jury selection wrapped on Friday
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
The final jurors have been seated in Donald Trump’s hush money trial and opening statements are set for Monday after an appellate judge rejected the former president’s latest bid to halt the case.
A quick reminder of what this case is about
The case brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg revisits a chapter from Trump’s past when his celebrity past collided with his political ambitions and, prosecutors say, he sought to prevent potentially damaging stories from surfacing through hush money payments.
One such payment was a $130,000 sum that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, gave to porn actor Stormy Daniels to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from emerging into public shortly before the 2016 election.
Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of the payments in internal records when his company reimbursed Cohen, who pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2018 and is expected to be a star witness for the prosecution.
Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.
To convict Trump of a felony, prosecutors must show he not only falsified or caused business records to be entered falsely, which would be a misdemeanor, but that he did so to conceal another crime.
Prosecutors to make history with today’s opening statements
For the first time in history, prosecutors will present a criminal case against a former American president to a jury as they accuse Donald Trump of a hush money scheme aimed at preventing damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public.
A 12-person jury in Manhattan is set to hear opening statements today from prosecutors and defense lawyers in the first of four criminal cases against the presumptive Republican nominee to reach trial.
The statements are expected to give jurors and the voting public the clearest view yet of the allegations at the heart of the case, as well as insight into Trump’s expected defense.
Court is scheduled to be back in session at 9:30 a.m. ET.