Trump involved in ‘illegal conspiracy’ to sway 2016 election, jury hears as trial starts

New York: Donald Trump was allegedly part of a criminal conspiracy to “catch and kill” damning stories that could have derailed his chances of becoming president, including a tryst with a porn star, an affair with a Playboy playmate, and a love child born out of wedlock.

In the opening statements of his historic trial, prosecutors told a jury in New York how Trump worked alongside his lawyer, a tabloid media executive and an Australian journalist as part of a hush money scheme to suppress information about his personal life in the lead-up to the 2016 election.

Former president Donald Trump awaits the start of proceedings at Manhattan criminal court in New York. Credit: AP

As the former president sat at the defence table with his eyes closed every so often, prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the jury on Monday (Tuesday AEST) that Trump lied “over and over” about his business records in his quest to win the White House.

“This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up: an illegal conspiracy to undermine the presidential integrity of an election and then the steps that the defendant took to conceal that election fraud,” he said.

But Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, told the court his client was “cloaked in innocence” and was merely trying to protect himself, his family and his brand from lies and exploitation.

“I have a spoiler alert,” Blanche added. “There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.”

David Pecker, Chairman and CEO of American Media, met Trump in 2015.Credit: AP

Prosecutors allege the conspiracy began in August 2015 when Trump invited tabloid executive David Pecker – who was the first witness to testify – to a meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, shortly after Trump had decided to run for office.

It was there that Trump hatched a plan with his lawyer Michael Cohen for Pecker to be Trump’s “eyes and ears” during the campaign, prosecutors claim, to use his network as the chief executive of AMI, publisher of the tabloid National Enquirer, to gather potentially damning stories and alert Cohen.

Non-disclosure agreements would then be negotiated, in which the person trying to sell the story would get a hefty sum of money to stay silent.

The jury was told that one of those deals involved former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal, whose lawyer Keith Davidson had contacted the Australian editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, Dylan Howard, in 2016, offering a “blockbuster Trump” story involving an affair she’d had with him years earlier.

Adult film actress Stormy Daniels (left) and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.Credit: AP

Howard, who Pecker said was now living in Australia and unable to travel for health reasons, flew to California to meet McDougal and Davidson, before AMI paid her $US150,000 ($232,000) to kill the story.

The second deal involved former Trump Tower doorman Dino Sajudin, who prosecutors say was paid $US30,000 ($46,000) by AMI to suppress an unsubstantiated allegation about Trump fathering a child out of wedlock with a concierge.

When AMI eventually discovered the story wasn’t true, Cohen told the media executive not to release the information until after the November 2016 election, prosecutors say.

And the third hush money deal – for which the charges against Trump are based – involved a $US130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, who says she had sex with Trump in 2006 shortly after Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to their son.

However, 10 years later, in the heat of an election campaign against Hillary Clinton – and shortly after a video surfaced of Trump being caught on a hot mic bragging about grabbing women “by the p---y” – it became a political liability.

“Another story about sexual infidelity, especially with a porn star on the heels of the Access Hollywood tape, could have been damaging to his election,” Colangelo told the jury.

Trump now faces 34 counts of falsifying business reports – and the prospect of jail – over the money paid to Daniels, which prosecutors say relate to 11 falsified invoices, 12 false ledger entries and 11 falsified cheques.

Cohen says he paid the money to Daniels before election day at Trump’s direction, using a shell company he had set up to conceal its true purpose. Trump then reimbursed him by fraudulently filing the money as a legal expense, even increasing it to $US420,000 paid in instalments, so it looked more legitimate.

“It was election fraud, pure and simple,” Colangelo said.

But Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche rejected this, arguing that Trump was paying what he believed was a legitimate legal retainer.

He also sought to discredit Cohen, citing his past tax and finance convictions, his history of lying to Congress, and his podcasts and media appearances in which “he rants and he raves about president Trump”.

As for Daniels, Blanche told the court that she met Trump at a time when he was host of the reality TV show The Apprentice, and while the pair had discussed “new opportunities” for Daniels, which “didn’t work out”.

“In the weeks and months leading to the 2016 election, she saw her chance to make some money,” Blanche said, adding that Trump merely “fought back” to protect his family and his brand from embarrassment and exploitation.

Noting that non-disclosure agreements were not illegal, and often used in the corporate world or by “wealthy people”, Blanche added: “President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes and the district attorney’s office should never have brought this case.”

The hush money trial marks the first time a current or former American president has ever faced criminal prosecution in court.

However, it is only one of four trials he currently faces – although the others, relating to election subversion and classified documents, may not take place before the November 5 election.

Police were on heightened alert at court after a man fuelled by conspiracy theories set himself on fire outside the court on Friday.

However, as Trump left the court about 1pm, demonstrators who gathered outside – some with pro-Trump flags, others declaring “no one is above the law” – were mostly peaceful.

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