Former President Trump speaks to the media as he leaves court during his trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on April 22, 2024, in New York City. Trump faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the first of his criminal cases to go to trial. (Brendan McDermid-Pool/Getty Images)
Trump's trial in a Manhattan courtroom began in earnest Monday, after jury selection last week, and heard its first witness, former American Media Inc. CEO David Pecker.
Pecker was allegedly a key figure to a "catch and kill" scheme ahead of the 2016 election. "Catch-and-kill" schemes are understood as tactics used by media and publishing companies to buy the rights of a person’s story, but do not publish the materials.
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The trial focuses on a $130,000 payment made by former Trump attorney Michael Cohen to Daniels to allegedly quiet her claims of an alleged extramarital affair she had with Trump in the early 2000s. Daniels reportedly spoke to the National Enquirer, which is owned by American Media Inc., on her claims, with Pecker allegedly contacting Cohen to "purchase" Daniels' silence on the alleged affair.
Trump has repeatedly denied an affair with Daniels and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
A court sketch depicts the third day of former President Trump’s criminal trial in Manhattan Criminal Court on Thursday, April 18, 2024. (Christine Cornell)
Trump said Monday that payments to Cohen were above board.
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"It’s a case as to bookkeeping which is a very minor thing in terms of the law, in terms of all the violent crime," Trump said Monday afternoon. "This is a case in which you pay a lawyer, and they call it a legal expense in the books."
Michael Cohen, former personal lawyer to Donald Trump, outside federal court in New York, on Dec. 14, 2023. (Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"I got indicted for that," he added.
Trump briefly delivered public comments earlier Monday, where he slammed the case as a "Biden" trial motivated "for the purposes of hurting the opponent of the worst president in the history of our country."
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"I just want to say before we begin – these are all Biden trials," Trump said before opening statements were delivered Monday. "This is done as election interference. Everybody knows it."
"I’m here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania and Georgia and lots of other places campaigning, and it’s very unfair. Fortunately, the poll numbers are very good," Trump continued. "They’ve been going up because people understand what’s going on."
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