Welcome back, Deadline: Legal Newsletter readers. We're here with another special edition of the newsletter, marking the opening statements in People v. Donald Trump. Those statements laid out the roadmap for where the first-ever criminal trial of a former U.S. president is headed.
Before those remarks, Judge Juan Merchan ruled on the crucial "Sandoval" issue, which determines the prior bad acts prosecutors can cross-examine Trump about if he testifies. Merchan said he won't let the state dredge up every dastardly claim about the defendant that it wants. But while prosecutors didn't entirely win that motion, Merchan's difference-splitting may help them in the end. That's because Trump very well might not testify anyway, and a complete ruling in the state's favor could have given the defense more ammunition on appeal if there's a conviction.
"This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the Manhattan jury in his opening Monday morning. He alleged that the former president tried to corrupt the 2016 presidential election and then covered it up by lying in his New York business records "over and over and over again." Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
"There's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election," defense lawyer Todd Blanche countered. "It's called democracy," said the lawyer for the man who, in two of his other criminal cases, is more squarely charged with trying to overthrow democracy in the 2020 election. (We should note that Trump has pleaded not guilty in all four of his criminal cases and has argued that he should have immunity as a former president in the Jan. 6 case, with a Supreme Court hearing on that topic set for Thursday.)
David Pecker was the state's first witness Monday. The former National Enquirer publisher made sense to start things off because he was there at the start of this sordid ordeal. According to the state, he agreed with Trump and his attorney Michael Cohen in 2015 to launch the "catch and kill" scheme to suppress negative Trump-related information during the 2016 campaign. It was from that purported plot that the alleged hush money payment to Stormy Daniels emerged.
Court adjourned early Monday. It was already going to end at 2 p.m. on Monday and Tuesday for Passover, but an alternate juror's reported dental appointment led Merchan to wrap up closer to 12:30 p.m., with Pecker's testimony set to continue Tuesday.
Before Pecker retakes the stand, Trump's gag order hearing is slated for Tuesday morning. Prosecutors have alleged a long list of violations by the presumptive GOP nominee, including a social media post that the state says targeted jurors. Will Merchan impose fines, imprisonment, or nothing against the defendant? We may find out tomorrow.
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