A New York prosecutor has told a jury that Donald Trump's hush money payment to an adult film star broke the law by deceiving voters shortly before the 2016 election, as the first-ever criminal trial of a former US president got under way.
Mr Trump, 77, has been ordered by the judge to appear in the Manhattan court for the duration of the case, largely keeping him off the campaign trail for weeks as he challenges President Joe Biden for the White House in November's election.
"This case is about conspiracy of fraud," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo said.
"The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election," he said.
He told the jury that they would hear Mr Trump working out the details of the scheme in his own voice on recorded conversations.
Lawyers for the Republican presidential candidate will also make their opening statement in what may be the only one of Mr Trump's four criminal prosecutions to go to trial before his 5 November election rematch with Democratic President Joe Biden.
Court hears of 'catch and kill' conspiracy
Mr Colangelo told jurors that Mr Trump engaged in a "catch and kill" conspiracy with his former lawyer Michael Cohen and tabloid publisher David Pecker to cover up unflattering information about Mr Trump and help him defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton.
That included payments to women who said they had sexual encounters with Mr Trump, including a $130,000 (€122,100) payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels, at a time when he was facing other revelations of sexual misbehaviour, he said.
Mr Trump's defence lawyer said the former US president did not commit a crime by paying Mr Cohen in 2017, dismissing the prosecutors' assertion Mr Trump sought to cover-up the payment.
"President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan District Attorney's office should never have brought this case," Mr Trump's lawyer Todd Blanche said.
"There's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy. They put something sinister on this idea, as if it’s a crime," he said.
Mr Blanche spoke shortly after prosecutors laid out their case arguing that Mr Trump broke the law by deceiving voters.
Pecker takes the stand
Mr Pecker, the former publisher of the National Enquirer, was the first witness to take to the stand in the trial.
Mr Pecker, 72, explained the basics of tabloid journalism and said his company often paid for stories.
He did not discuss his interactions with Mr Trump, but is expected to return on Tuesday for more questioning.
'Falsified' business records - Prosecutor
Mr Colangelo said Mr Trump disguised his reimbursements to Mr Cohen as legal expenses through 11 falsified invoices, 12 falsified ledger entries and 11 falsified checks.
"Those were lies. There was no retainer agreement, Mr Cohen was not being paid for legal services," Mr Colangelo said.
"The defendant falsified those business records because he wanted to conceal his and others' criminal conduct," he added.
According to prosecutors, Mr Pecker agreed during an August 2015 meeting with Mr Trump and Mr Cohen to act as the campaign's "eyes and ears" by looking out for negative stories about Mr Trump.
"Pecker was not acting as a publisher, he was acting as a co-conspirator," Mr Colangelo said.
American Media, which published the National Enquirer, in 2018 admitted that it paid $150,000 (€140,000) to former Playboy magazine model Karen McDougal for rights to her story about a months-long affair with Mr Trump in 2006 and 2007.
American Media said it worked "in concert" with Mr Trump's campaign, and it never published a story.
"The evidence will show that the defendant desperately did not want this info about Karen McDougal to become public because he was worried about its impact on the election," Mr Colangelo said.
The tabloid reached a similar deal to pay $30,000 (€28,000) to a doorman who was seeking to sell a story about Trump allegedly fathering a child out of wedlock, which turned out to be false, according to prosecutors.
Mr Trump has said the payments were personal and did not violate election law. He has also denied the affair with Ms McDougal.
Access Hollywood TV show tape
As the trial opened, Justice Juan Merchan ruled that prosecutors would be able to ask Mr Trump, if he testifies, about two other court cases: one that found he fraudulently misstated the value of his real estate assets, and another that found he defamed writer E. Jean Carroll after she accused him of rape.
Justice Merchan also said prosecutors would be able to show jurors a transcript of a tape from the Access Hollywood TV show in which Mr Trump makes vulgar comments about grabbing women's genitals, though jurors will not be allowed to see the tape itself.
Wearing a blue tie and dark blue suit, Mr Trump stared at the judge and occasionally spoke to his lawyer. A Secret Service agent wearing an earpiece sat directly behind him.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsification of business records brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and denies having had a sexual encounter with Ms Daniels.
The case is seen by many legal experts as the least consequential of the Trump prosecutions.
A guilty verdict would not bar him from taking office, but it could hurt his candidacy.
Reuters/Ipsos polling shows half of independent voters and one in four Republicans say they would not vote for Mr Trump if he is convicted of a crime.
At least 20 witnesses to be called
In the New York trial, Mr Trump is charged with falsely recording his 2017 reimbursement of Mr Cohen for the Daniels payment as a legal expense in his real estate company's books.
Prosecutors say he did so to conceal the fact that Mr Cohen's payment exceeded the $2,700 (€2,500) limit on individual campaign contributions at the time.
Testimony about those payments could help prosecutors establish that Mr Cohen's payment to Ms Daniels was part of a broader pattern.
Prosecutors plan to call at least 20 witnesses total, according to Mr Trump's defence team.
The trial could last six to eight weeks.
Sparse turnout by Trump supporters
Before the trial began today, Mr Trump called for supporters to protest peacefully at courthouses "all over the country," but few were on hand to greet him when he arrived at the downtown courthouse.
Mr Trump suggested tight security measures were responsible for the sparse turnout, but the streets surrounding the courthouse were open to the public.
"Lower Manhattan surrounding the courthouse, where I am heading now, is completely CLOSED DOWN. SO UNFAIR!!!" he wrote on social media.
Mr Trump faces three other criminal indictments stemming from his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat and his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House in 2021.
Mr Trump has pleaded not guilty in those cases, and he portrays all of them as a broad-based effort by Mr Biden's Democratic allies to undercut his campaign.
Justice Merchan, who is overseeing the hush money trial, imposed a limited gag order on Mr Trump after he criticised witnesses, prosecutors, the judge and his daughter.
Prosecutors are pressing Justice Merchan to penalise Mr Trump for violating that order.
