President Trump is inside a New York courtroom for opening
statements.
For the first time in history,
a jury heard testimony at a criminal case against a
former American president.
Prosecutors accused the former president of a criminal conspiracy and
a cover up to influence the election.
It's not only unprecedented, it is so extraordinary on so
many levels.
Over the course of five weeks,
Donald Trump stood trial in New York City
facing 34 felony charges related to a 2016 hush money
payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels.
This is a trial that should never happen.
It should have been thrown out a long time ago.
Hush money payments in themselves aren't illegal,
but the former president is accused of falsifying business records
to hide his reimbursement of the payments to his former
attorney Michael Cohen in hopes of hiding damaging information from
voters days ahead of the 2016 election.
Trump argues the alleged reimbursement payments were legitimate legal expenses
pursuant to a retainer agreement.
Testimony began in the Manhattan court on April
22nd, 2024. Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker,
the first witness in the historic criminal hush money trial
against former President Trump,
calling him an alleged Co conspirator in the plot to
silence Stormy Daniels and others.
The former media executive testified that in a 2015 meeting
with Trump and Cohen,
Pecker agreed to be the eyes and ears of the
Trump campaign.
I would notify Trump's team of any salacious or negative
stories about Trump so the stories could be bought and
then killed,
a practice known as catch and Kill.
Pecker said that in the end,
his company, American Media Inc,
made two payments to help the Trump campaign,
including a
$150,000 payment to Karen McDougal for the exclusive rights to
her story of an affair with Trump,
which Trump has denied. On April 26th,
the prosecution called their second witness,
Rona Graff, Donald Trump's longtime executive assistant.
Graff was asked if she created a contact for Stormy
Daniels in the Trump Organizations computer system.
She replied I believe I did.
When asked if she had ever seen Daniels at Trump
Tower,
she said she had a vague recollection of seeing her
in the reception area.
On day nine of the trial,
Judge Juan Marchand ruled that Trump had violated the limited
gag order he was under,
which prohibited him for making public comments about jurors,
lawyers other than Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg,
potential witnesses, court staff and their families to test the
judge in his criminal trial.
Trump now having to pay 9 grand in fines for
violating that gag order.
At the end of the second week of testimony,
former adviser to President Trump Hope Hicks took the stand.
Notably, Hicks testified that Donald Trump told her Cohen made
the hush payment to Stormy Daniels on his own,
but Hicks noted that would have been out of character
for Cohen.
After testifying that Trump told her he preferred the news
of the hush money payment come out after the election,
Hicks broke down on the stand.
When court resumed on May 6th,
Judge Juan Marshawn again held Trump in criminal contempt on
1/10 count of violating the gag order,
the judge threatening jail time if the former president continued
to flout the court's ruling
from the paper trail and now to the porn star,
all eyes were on Stormy Daniels as she testified in
court on the 13th day of trial.
Daniels recounted her first time meeting Donald Trump and detailed
her alleged sexual encounter with him,
often at the objection of his attorneys.
Trump denies the encounter. Daniels testified that the
$130,000 payment for her story was delayed,
which she attributed to Donald Trump delaying payment until after
the election.
Over Daniels 2 days of testimony,
the defense motioned for a mistrial twice.
The judge denied both motions.
Former White House aide Madeline Westerhout became emotional,
Speaking of her time working in the White House.
Westerhout was asked if Trump would sign checks without reviewing
them.
She answered yes, but earlier noted that Trump typically read
things before signing them.
And on May 13th, prosecutors called their star witness,
former attorney to Donald Trump,
Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen, as we've talked about a lot,
will be a central witness here.
Of course, he does have some credibility issues.
Cohen testified over four days,
claiming that Donald Trump directed him to pay off Stormy
Daniels,
that Cohen should front the money and be paid back
and said it was Trump who encouraged Cohen to delay
the deal past the election,
a critical element for prosecutors.
Cohen says he required approval from Trump on the payment
and that Trump signed off on the reimbursement scheme just
days ahead of his inauguration.
Referencing an October 24th call where Cohen says he spoke
to Trump about finalizing the plan,
the defense challenged that, claiming the October 24th call was
about a prank caller who had been harassing Cohen.
On Monday, May 20th, the prosecution rested their case and
the defense called Michael Cohen's one time legal advisor,
Robert Costello. Costello testified that Cohen told him numerous times
that Trump knew nothing of the payment to Stormy Daniels.
In all, the jury heard 16 days of testimony from
22 witnesses and saw nearly 300 exhibits in the criminal
trial of Donald Trump.
On May 30th, after deliberating for just under 10 hours,
the jury found the former president guilty on all 34
counts.
This was a disgrace. This was a rigged trial by
a conflicted judge who was corrupt.
Sentencing has been set for July 11th.