After jury selection last week, the historic trial in People v. Donald Trump got underway this week. Here are five top takeaways from the first-ever criminal trial against a former U.S. president:
1. Opening Statements: Election interference vs. Nothing to see here
You don’t need a spoiler alert to know that the two sides of this case see things wildly differently. If there’d been any doubt, the parties’ opening statements were clarifying. “This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the Manhattan jury in his opening Monday. He said that the former president tried to corrupt the 2016 presidential election and then covered it up by lying in his New York business records “over and over and over again.” Meanwhile, defense lawyer Todd Blanche said there’s “nothing wrong with trying to influence an election.” Indeed, he said: “It’s called democracy.”
2. Alvin Bragg’s theory of the case
In keeping with the election interference theme, we got the latest indication of how exactly prosecutors intend to make their case. They need to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had an intent to defraud that includes an intent to commit another crime or to aid or conceal the commission of another crime. That raises the question of what “other crime” the state will cite to the jury. We saw this week that a main one may be a New York state election law that bars people from conspiring to promote or prevent a person’s election by unlawful means. So expect to hear more about an election-related conspiracy as the case proceeds.
3. Pecker sets the stage
After opening statements Monday, prosecutors called their first witness, David Pecker. The former National Enquirer publisher made sense as an opening act. He was there from the start of the alleged “catch and kill” scheme ahead of the Stormy Daniels hush-money payoff and the alleged cover-up of the reimbursement to Michael Cohen of that payoff. (Trump has pleaded not guilty and denied having an affair with Daniels.) Again, the falsifying business records charges are for allegedly covering up Cohen’s reimbursement, not the hush-money payment itself. Pecker thus lays the foundation for the prosecution to build on in the weeks ahead.
4. Trump gag order sideshow unresolved
All the while, prosecutors have been pressing Judge Juan Merchan to hold Trump in contempt over several alleged gag order violations. They’ve brought to the judge’s attention several statements and social media posts about witnesses and jurors. There was a hearing Tuesday on one set of alleged violations, though Merchan still hasn’t ruled. In fact, he set another hearing on additional alleged violations for next week. But we head into the weekend without consequences for apparent serial violations of a court order.
5. Trump lawyer “losing all credibility” with the judge
In the absence of immediate consequences, the biggest takeaway from the gag order hearing may be that the judge questioned Trump lawyer Blanche’s credibility. As the defense attorney pressed his case, Merchan told him, “Mr. Blanche, you’re losing all credibility.” It should go without saying that that’s a bad thing for a lawyer to hear, especially at this early stage of the trial. But there’s much more lawyering to be done on both sides as this case heats up.
Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for weekly updates on the top legal stories, including news from the Supreme Court, the Donald Trump cases and more.
