Opening Statements and "Catch and Kill"
Here is a summary of the most salient details from Trump's criminal trial yesterday, including what we can expect today with further testimony from National Enquirer's David Pecker.
Last night, Donald Trump continued to “wile out” on his Truth Social platform, issuing a statement about District Attorney Alvin Bragg that claimed Bragg was an “Election Denier.” Aside from the comical way in which he made this a proper title, I am assuming Trump meant that Bragg, like the rest of all sane Americans, believes that Joe Biden won the 2020 Presidential Election. But this up is down and wet is dry world of Donald Trump could soon come to a crushing halt, as Judge Juan Merchan is set to issue his ruling on allegations that Trump has continually violated the gag order.
Opening statements in the first-ever criminal case against a former American President began yesterday, as prosecutor Alvin Bragg detailed Donald Trump’s scheme to prevent damaging stories about his personal life from becoming public. Trump is charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records as part of an arrangement to bury stories that he feared could hurt his 2016 campaign. While a conviction would not legally prevent Trump from becoming president again, these are state charges, which means if convicted, Donald Trump would not be able to pardon himself if he wins the 2024 election. I will pause to give everyone a moment to shudder at my last statement.
The summaries brought by both sides were fairly straightforward — prosecutors did their jobs by laying out an election interference scheme involving “conspiracy and cover-up.” Manhattan Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo urged jurors to focus on the “core of conspiracy” which was the master plan concocted by Trump, his then-attorney Michael Cohen and National enquirer publisher David Pecker to “catch and kill” any negative stories that might surface about Trump, and to make sure they were never published. Look for prosecutors to keep reiterating the word “conspiracy” throughout pivotal points in the trial to have a maximum effect on the jury.
Colangelo explained to the jury that when Michael Cohen completed the arranged payment to Stormy Daniels, and when Donald Trump falsified his business records to cover-up his reimbursement to Cohen for the Daniels payment, the scheme became criminal in nature. Colangelo bolstered his assertions by pointing out three damaging stories about Donald Trump involving Karen McDougal and Daniels, saying both women were paid prior to the 2016 election in a similar way. This established a similar criminal scheme, even though those articles were never published.
The defense briefly argued that no crime was committed at all, taking merely 30 minutes to make an entire opening statement. Todd Blanche, defense attorney for Donald Trump, said that prosecutors were mischaracterizing Trump’s actions as improper or illegal saying, “I have a spoiler alert: There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence the election. It’s called democracy.” Although Blanche was quick with his words, he was able to spell out a series of defenses he will employ to defend Trump against the claims of fraud.
Blanche argued that there was never any kind of reimbursement to Michael Cohen, much less for the hush money payment to Daniels. Trump contends that all checks paid to Cohen in 2017 were for legitimate legal services that were provided to himself and to First Lady Melania Trump. “He was President Trump’s personal attorney… [Trump’s] signature block in 2017 said, ‘Michael Cohen, personal attorney to President Trump.’”
Blanche emphasized that Donald Trump was not personally responsible or involved with the invoices that were submitted by Michael Cohen for payment, or the way in which they were recorded by the Trump Organization. Because those business records are the strongest piece of evidence to support felony charges against Trump, Blanche argued that Trump was not involved in the actual payment, so he had no intent to defraud. Trump’s lawyer also claims that the reason Trump had a non-disclosure agreement with Ms. Daniels was to cover up the sexual affair they had ten years earlier, not to keep the affair out of the press before the election.
Former National Enquirer Publisher David Pecker, who prosecutors say worked with Trump and Cohen on the infamous “catch and kill” system to buy up and suppress negative publicity, took the stand briefly on Monday afternoon and will be back to testify today. Pecker, who was on the stand for less than a half hour before the first day concluded, testified to the editorial structure of his magazine and about the level of oversight he had on the stories. He also confirmed his phone numbers, which the prosecution alluded to being relevant later on in the trial.
Pecker admitted on Monday that the Enquirer engaged in “checkbook journalism,” which is a tabloid term describing the practice of paying sources for stories. Pecker also confirmed that as the publisher of the outlet, he had the “final say” over anything his outlet published, and that editors had been authorized to pay up to $10,000 per incriminating story. Pecker told the jury that if there was a payment to be made above that amount, his approval was required.
Today, we can expect Pecker to give more detail about his role in the Stormy Daniels payoff, including how he was on the watch for any negative stories that might surface about Donald Trump leading up to the 2016 Election. David Pecker is expected to further explain the “catch-and-kill” method of burying bad press which was employed by Pecker at the National Enquirer and parent company AMI.
David Pecker will be taken through the details of his involvement by prosecutors which include the AMI payoff of $150,000 to former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal for the complete rights to her affair with Donald Trump, as well as details about how Pecker and other employees worked to suppress the story. Pecker will also testify about the $130,000 payment in question to Stormy Daniels, which was intended to bury her story about a one-night stand with Trump.
While the courtroom was able to find some levity in yesterday’s brief appearance on the stand by Pecker, it is expected that proceedings today will be much more stoic. Donald Trump glared at his former friend as he sat on the stand to explain his role in the alleged conspiracy and it is not likely that Trump’s intense hostility toward today’s witness will at all let up.
While it is unexpected that there will be any real surprises in the testimony from Pecker today, the former publisher is expected to do some damage to the Trump defense just in his explanation of events and his interaction with Trump. The real excitement will lie in any potential sanctions against Trump by Judge Merchan for violating his gag order restraints and we will know those details soon. Stay tuned…
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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Unfortunately, the "stormy daniels" trial may give Trump the Whitehouse
https://davidgottfried.substack.com/p/the-stormy-daniels-case-may-give