Trump trial continues with opening statements, first witness: 'The 34 counts ... are really just pieces of paper,' defense says

The trial against former President Donald Trump continued on Monday morning, with opening statements from the prosecution and the defense, as well as testimony from the first witness.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Colangelo kicked off the opening statement for the prosecution, stating, "This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up."

He accused Trump of "orchestrat[ing] a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election."

"Then he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again," Colangelo continued.

Trump's former attorney, Michael Cohen, allegedly provided so-called "hush money" payments on behalf of Trump to porn actress Stormy Daniels, who claimed the two had an affair.

Colangelo stated that the payments were Trump's attempt "to influence the presidential election."

He further alleged that David Pecker, the former publisher at National Enquirer, also attempted to help Trump's campaign by purchasing the rights to several unfavorable stories about Trump and never publishing them, which has been dubbed a "catch and kill" scheme.

"It's a way of buying damaging information not to publish it, but to hide it, make it go away, and in this case, help the candidate," Colangelo explained.

One of those stories alleged that Trump made a $30,000 payment to a former Trump Tower doorman, who claimed the former president had fathered a child out of wedlock. The story turned out to be false.

"At the end of the case," Colangelo told jurors, wrapping up his opening statements, "we are confident you will have no reasonable doubt that Donald Trump is guilty of falsifying business records with the intent to conceal an illegal conspiracy to undermine the integrity of a presidential election."

Trump's legal team insisted that he "did not commit any crimes."

Tood Blanche, Trump's attorney, made opening statements for the defense, expressing confidence that they would find "plenty of reasonable doubt."

Blanche noted that the prosecution painted what appeared "to be a very clean, nice story" but claimed "it is not simple, as the people just described."

"The 34 counts, ladies and gentlemen, are really just pieces of paper," he continued. "None of this was a crime."

Blanche claimed that Trump's payments to Cohen "were not a payback" but a payment for his legal services. He noted that Cohen sent a $130,000 payment to Daniels, but Trump gave Cohen a $420,000 payment.

"Ask yourself: Would a frugal business man who pinches pennies repay a $130,000 debt to the tune of $420,000?" he told jurors.

Blanche addressed the prosecution's accusations that Trump tried to "corrupt" the presidential election.

"I have a spoiler alert: There's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It's called democracy," he remarked. "Entering into a nondisclosure agreement is perfectly legal."

Blanche noted that companies enter into similar agreements "with some regularity." He accused Daniels of making up the affair allegations "to extort President Trump."

Prosecutors objected to Blanche's comments, prompting Acting Justice Juan Merchan to call the lawyers to the bench. Merchan sustained the prosecution's objection.

Blanche changed his comments to note that there is "nothing illegal about entering into a nondisclosure agreement period."

He accused Cohen of being "obsessed" with Trump, claiming he could not be trusted. Blanche accused Cohen of perjuring himself at Trump's civil fraud trial last year. Prosecutors again objected to the defense attorney's comments. Merchan sustained the objection.

"His entire financial livelihood depends on President Trump's destruction," Blanche continued, referring to Cohen's media appearances and books.

He argued similarly against Daniels, noting that she "also wrote a book" and "was paid for a documentary."

Blanche also addressed the prosecution's first witness, Pecker.

"It's not a scheme, unless a scheme means something that doesn't matter, that's not illegal," he said about the alleged "catch and kill" agreement.

"Use your common sense. We're New Yorkers. It's why we're here," Blanche concluded. "If you do that, there will be a very swift 'not guilty' verdict."

Following the end of the attorneys' opening statements, the court took a brief recess before calling Pecker to testify. During his short time on the stand, he described his former job and relationship with National Enquirer's former editor in chief Dylan Howard. Pecker claimed that he had a private email for correspondence he did not want his assistant to read.

The trial ended short on Monday because one of the jurors had a dental appointment. The court will continue on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. local time.

Jurors are allowed to take notes during the trial. More than half of the jurors requested writing materials.

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