The historic trial of Donald Trump came to the heart of the matter on Monday. And at the opening of the debates, the former president had to face very heavy accusations. According to prosecutors, Donald Trump hatched a “plot” to “rig” the 2016 presidential election by buying the silence of a former porn star about a sexual relationship.
By presenting the charges before the jury, the prosecution immediately wanted to raise the stakes of the case and show that it goes well beyond the 34 counts of falsification of accounting documents accused of the Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election. .
Trump forced into silence
In the Manhattan courtroom, Donald Trump watched history being made, a stark witness to his criminal trial, the first of a former American president. The Republican magnate attended the opening of the debates with a sullen air in a room with peeling paint and pale light, on the 15th floor of the imposing judicial building in New York. Donald Trump has been forced since last week to watch the ballet of the hearing and its often tedious stages in silence – only being allowed to speak when spoken to.
Slouching in his seat, looking straight ahead, the billionaire listened to the prosecution detail how his team would have worked hand in hand with a tabloid press boss to conceal any information detrimental to his campaign for the 2016 presidential election. had to hear the prosecutor read without blinking the words he himself had made in a now famous video where he was heard boasting of “grabbing” women “by the pussy”.
When it was his lawyer’s turn to launch into an opening argument, brushing aside any wrongdoing and arguing that nondisclosure agreements are commonplace among celebrities, the Republican turned to the jury.
“Chequebook journalism”
The first witness called to the stand, former press boss David Pecker, who at the time headed the American tabloid The National Enquirer, was much more cheerful. According to prosecutors, he would have bought the rights to embarrassing affairs for the candidate for the White House, with the aim of not publishing them. “We were doing checkbook journalism,” he told jurors, explaining the practices of his former company. Donald Trump relied heavily on the tabloids to make a name for himself in New York in the 1980s and 1990s. As the hearing ended, the real estate mogul glared at David Pecker.
The former president’s mandatory presence at his hearings prevents him from campaigning normally, while his rival Joe Biden tries to score points on the ground. The stakes are all the higher as this trial could be the only one, among the four criminal cases targeting Donald Trump, to conclude before the November presidential election.