An unprecedented trial opens with two visions of Donald Trump

NEW YORK: Manhattan prosecutors delivered a raw recounting of Donald Trump's seamy past Monday as they debuted their case against him to jurors, the nation and the world, reducing the former president to a co-conspirator in a plot to cover up three sex scandals that threatened his 2016 election win.

Their opening statement was a pivotal moment in the first prosecution of an American president, a sweeping synopsis of the case against Trump, who watched from the defense table, occasionally shaking his head. Moments later, Trump's lawyer delivered his own opening, beginning with the simple claim that "President Trump is innocent," then noting that he is once again the presumptive Republican nominee and concluding with an exhortation for jurors to "use your common sense."

The jury of 12 New Yorkers who will weigh Trump's legal fate before millions of voters decide his political future also heard brief testimony from the prosecution's leadoff witness, David Pecker, a former tabloid publisher who was close with Trump. Pecker, who ran the National Enquirer, testified that his supermarket tabloids practiced "checkbook journalism." In this case, prosecutors say, he bought and buried stories that could have imperiled Trump's 2016 campaign.


On Monday, the trial ended early to accommodate the Passover holiday and a juror's emergency dental appointment.

It began with Judge Juan M. Merchan determining what prosecutors could ask of Trump should he take the witness stand in his own defense. In a victory for the prosecution, the judge ruled that they could question him about three civil trials he lost over the last year.

Matthew Colangelo, a senior aide to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, then seized on what he called a conspiracy in the criminal case. Over the course of a 45-minute opening, as Bragg watched from the front row, Colangelo calmly walked the jury through the prosecution's argument that Trump orchestrated the plot to corrupt the 2016 election.

The scheme, he explained, involved hush-money deals with three people who had salacious stories to sell: a porn actor, a Playboy model and a door attendant at one of Trump's buildings.

Trump, who faces up to four years in prison, directed allies to buy those people's silence to protect his candidacy, Colangelo explained.

Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, one for each false check, ledger and invoice.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.