17/ Bower:

Merchan explains the life cycle of a case: Opening statements, presentation of evidence, and closing arguments or "summations." He explains that the parties are not permitted to comment on or make argument about the evidence & witness testimony until closing arguments.

18/ Klasfeld:

Merchan explains that alternate jurors do not know at this time whether they will be asked to substitute for someone on the 12-person panel.

erica orden:

As Merchan instructs the jurors, various jurors are nodding their heads in understanding.

19 Katie Phang:

The jurors are advised that they can take notes, if they so choose. The notes cannot be a distraction, though, for them during the trial. The notes are to refresh their recollection and are for that juror's own personal use.

20/ Press:

Prosecutor: The scheme began. The Defendant met with David Pecker, with Michael Cohen there. They conspired to conceal negative information about Mr. Trump. Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to Stormy Daniels to silence her

The Defendant claimed the payments to Michael Cohen were for legal services. That was a lie. The Defendant falsified 34 business records. He was indicted. Falsified were invoices, voucher entries and payment checks with check stubs

21/ Klasfeld:

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo's first line:

👉🏼"This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up."

👉🏼The purpose of this conspiracy, the prosecutor says, was to influence the 2016 presidential election.

22/ Klasfeld:

As "one part" of the agreement, Michael Cohen paid Stormy Daniels $130,000 to "silence her and to make sure the public did not learn about a sexual encounter with the defendant."

Colangelo pivots to the Trump Tower meeting with Trump, Cohen, and David Pecker, the CEO of AMI, the National Enquirer's parent company.

23/ Klasfeld:

Pecker would act as the "eyes and ears" of the campaign to gather info that might be harmful to Trump's candidacy.

AMI would also use its publications and magazines to publish stories flattering to Trump.

"The National Enquirer ran headline after headline that extolled the defendant's virtues," ones that Pecker specifically instructed.

"The National Enquirer also ran stories attacking Mr. Trump's political opponents," including against Ben Carson and Ted Cruz.

24/ Klasfeld:

Colangelo describes the conspiracy with AMI as having three parts:

1) to run positive coverage.
2) to attack opponents
3) be "eyes and ears" of the campaign.

He says that last prong of the conspiracy falls under the rubric of "catch-and-kill."

25/ Bower:

Coangelo on alleged conspiracy:

Soon after Trump announced his run for President, he asked David Pecker—the CEO of AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer—to meet with him. Also at the meeting was attorney Michael Cohen.

Cohen, Pecker, Trump, “struck an agreement" at that meeting, the prosecution says.

They agreed that Pecker would help campaign by acting as the "eyes and ears" of the Trump campaign to gather info harmful to Trump, which would then be reported to Cohen.

26/ PLEASE NOTE:

If there are typos, they’re not mine.

I’m copying/pasting a number of reporters from 2 different platforms.

I do not have time to go back and correct.

27/ Klasfeld:

The prosecutor describes three "catch-and-kill" operations.

The first payoff went to Dino Sajudin, who had been hawking a false story that Trump fathered a child out-of-wedlock.

Pecker was acting, in that scheme, had been acting as a "co-conspirator," Colangelo says.

28/ Klasfeld:

When AMI determined later that Mr. Sajudin's allegations weren't even true, Cohen instructed Pecker to delay releasing him from the non-disclosure agreement until after the 2016 election, the prosecutor tells the jury.

Next up: Karen McDougal.

McDougal said that she had a romantic and sexual relationship with Trump, while he was married, that lasted for roughly a year.

29/ Klasfeld:

"The evidence will show that the defendant desperately did not want this information about Karen McDougal to become public" because he was concerned about how it would affect the election, Colangelo says.

30/ Klasfeld:

"The evidence will show that the defendant desperately did not want this information about Karen McDougal to become public" because he was concerned about how it would affect the election, Colangelo says.

"You will see the flurry of text messages, the barrage of phone calls" about the desire to silence Karen McDougal's story.

David Pecker is reportedly set to be the first witness, and the prosecutor promises the jury that they will hear him testify.

31/ Press:

Prosecutor: Howard told Cohen he thought the allegations were true. They all discussed it. Pecker agreed AMI would pay $150,000 for the story. AMI added other terms, Ms. McDougal would appear on the cover. But it was hush money

👉🏼You will hear David Pecker testify about his conversations with Donald Trump about McDougal. But Trump didn't pay, and Pecker was frustrated. Cohen recorded a conversation with Donald Trump. You will here it. Cohen spoke with Allen Weiselberg

32/ #WompWomp

Klasfeld:

Colangelo:

👉🏼"You'll hear the defendant's own voice, on tape, working out the intended agreement."

33/ Klasfeld:

Colangelo pivots to Trump's "hot mic" moment in the "Access Hollywood" tape:

👉🏼Hope Hicks was sent a transcript of the tape, he says.

34/ Press:

Prosecutor: 👉🏼You will hear the Defendant say, in his own voice, that they should pay in cash. Instead they paid as so-called advisory services. Pecker consulted with AMI's general counsel, then said AMI would eat the cost.

A month before the election, the Washington Post published a video that turned the campaign upside down - on a hot mic on Access Hollywood. The Washington Post reporter emailed Hope Hicks with a transcript of 👉🏼Donald Trump bragging about sexual assaults

35/ Orden on the above:

As he said that, Trump, not looking at Colangelo, shook his head.

36/ Klasfeld:

Colangelo takes out the transcript himself, reciting the infamous lines with even, prosecutorial delivery:

👉🏼"You can do anything [...] Grab ’em by the pussy. You can do anything."

👉🏼"They knew it was damaging not only because Trump bragged about sexual assault," but because it was on tape.

37/ Klasfeld:

Colangelo:

"The campaign went into immediate damage-control mode to blunt the impact of the tape."

Trump called it "locker room talk," depicting it as "words," not "actions."

Then, one day after the "Access Hollywood" tape was released, the campaign caught wind of Stormy Daniels' allegations.

38/ Press:

Prosecutor: Trump said, Grab them by the p*ssy, you can do anything. Allies withdrew their endorsements. The Republican National Committee considered replacing him a month before election day.
[At defense table, Trump whispers to his lawyer Blanche

1 day after the Access Hollywood tape was published, AMI told Michael Cohen that Storm Daniels' lawyer Keith Davidson had another story about sexual infidelity, with a porn star. At Trump's direction, Cohen arranged to buy the story

39/ orden:

Trump pointed to something near Blanche, then Blanche handed him a post-it note. The two then whispered briefly.

40/ Klasfeld:

The prosecutor on Daniels' hush money payoff:

"Trump didn't want to write a check himself to write a $130,000 check himself."

👉🏼So they figured out that Cohen would make the payment "through a shell company to make it harder to track," Colangelo says.

👉🏼"It was election fraud, pure and simple."

"We will never know, and it doesn't matter," if it changed the outcome.

41/ 👀 Press:

Prosecutor: It was elections fraud, pure and simple. Trump was concerned. On Election Night, Keith Davidson texted the National Enquirer's Dylan Howard and asked, 👉🏼What have we done?

42/ Klasfeld:

Colangelo notes a couple of loose ends after the election, like how to reimburse Michael Cohen for the Stormy Daniels payoff.

Colangelo notes that nobody could pay Cohen back with a check that said "reimbursement for porn star payoff."

"So they could agree to cook the books and make it look like the payment was income [...] for services rendered."

43/ Press:

Prosecutor: 👉🏼The Defendant invited Pecker to the White House, to thank you.

In January 2017, before the Defendant moved to DC, Cohen met with Allen Weiselberg, the CFO. They couldn't admit it was porn star payoff - Weiselberg asked for a bank statement

44/ Press:

Prosecutor: So they purported to pay under a retainer agreement that didn't exist. In February 2017 Cohen went down to DC; they confirmed the plan. Then Cohen sent a fake invoice, and got a check. 👉🏼He did it 11 times

Klasfeld:

Colangelo:

The Trump Org was "not in the practice of paying twice what they owed for anything."

👉🏼That system "shows just how important it was" to Trump to "hide Mr. Cohen's illegal payment" to Daniels and the "overall election conspiracy" that they launched

45/ Phang:

👉🏼THIS: Colangelo says Trump Org couldn't cut Cohen a check with the memo line reading: "Reimbursement for porn star payoff."

“So they agreed to cook the books” and made it look like the reimbursement to Cohen was actually income for services rendered.

Cohen submitted fake invoices for reimbursement. Trump's accounting staff at Trump Tower processed every one of those fake invoices and recorded them in their ledgers falsely as legal services payments.

46/ Phang:

👉🏼The first 2 checks were paid from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust. Trump was the beneficiary of that trust.

The remaining checks were paid from Trump's personal bank accounts and Trump signed those checks himself while he was President.

47/ Backing up a little. Via Emptywheel:

Note, we've known this since 2018. It may be one of several reasons why Cohen didn't get the pardon deal that Stone and Manafort got. (Stone kept a similar CYA file -- written notes of his calls with Trump in 2016; it's not clear that prosecutors ever got them.)

Klasfeld:

Colangelo says Cohen taped a phone call about silencing McDougal's account:

"You will get a chance to hear that recording during this trial."

48/ Press:

Prosecutor: They doubled it, for Cohen to pay taxes on it. They added another $60,000 as a year end bonus. Allen Weiselberg wrote it all down; Trump approved it. You will see that Donald Trump was frugal - but not in this case. This might be the only time

So they purported to pay under a retainer agreement that didn't exist. In February 2017 Cohen went down to DC; they confirmed the plan. Then Cohen sent a fake invoice, and got a check. He did it 11 times.

49/ Press:

Prosecutor: When it became public, Michael Cohen lied. He has a criminal record. Cohen will testify that he pled guilty and went to jail, for the Karen McDougal payoff, and Storm Daniels. Also tax fraud and laying to a bank and Congress

Cohen's testimony is backed up w other witnesses: David Pecker and Keith Davidson. We have records and will show them to you, sometimes at length. This is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover up. 👉🏼We are confident you will have no reasonable doubt

50/ Klasfeld:

Colangelo:

The Trump Org was "not in the practice of paying twice what they owed for anything."

That system "shows just how important it was" to Trump to "hide Mr. Cohen's illegal payment" to Daniels and the "overall election conspiracy" that they launched.

The first couple of check came from the Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust.

Colangelo notes that the rest came from Trump's personal bank account.

51/ Klasfeld:

"The defendant signed those checks, each of them, himself, while he was president," he adds.

👉🏼Colangelo pivots to anticipating, and countering, Team Trump's attacks on Michael Cohen.

👉🏼Colangelo says Cohen's account is backed up by "Trump's own words" on tape, social media accounts, books and speeches.

52/ Klasfeld:

"As you consider all of the evidence the People will present, we ask you to use your common sense."

👉🏼👉🏼He advises them: "Tune out the irrelevant sideshows."
Colangelo:

"Tune out the noise. Focus on the facts. Focus on the logical inferences that follow from those facts. Follow the evidence. Listen to the testimony."👈🏼👈🏼

53/ Bower:

The defendant 7 others concocted a scheme to use “doctored” records to conceal the payoff.

Specifically, repayment scheme to Cohen involved falsifying records that claimed Cohen was being paid for "legal services" instead of a reimbursement.

The evidence will show all of this amounted to an illegal conspiracy to undermine the results of the 2016 election.

The evidence “leads to the one conclusion that Donald Trump is guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records."

54/ Buckle up, folks.

Klasfeld:

Trump's attorney Todd Blanche begins his first lines:

😂🤦🏻‍♀️"President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan District Attorney's office should never have brought this case."

Blanche notes that Trump is presumed to be innocent and emphasizes what that legal concept means until a jury holds otherwise.