Donald Trump accused of orchestrating 'criminal scheme to corrupt 2016 election' on first day of hush money trial
22 April 2024, 21:09 | Updated: 22 April 2024, 21:10
Donald Trump orchestrated a 'criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 election', a New York court has heard at the start of the president's hush money trial.
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Trump - whose lawyers maintain he has done "nothing illegal" - said it was a "sad day for America" as he addressed reporters outside the courthouse after calling for "America-loving" protesters to gather outside the building.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee for the presidency is accused of falsifying business records to pay porn star Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair.
New York prosecutors claimed Trump, his then lawyer Michael Cohen, and gossip magazine publisher David Pecker worked together to bury stories that they feared would detail his 2016 presidency race against Hillary Clinton.
At the heart of the allegations against Trump is a $130,000 payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer and personal fixer, to prevent her claims of a sexual encounter with Trump from surfacing in the final days of the race.
Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of such payments in internal business documents.
Trump has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, and his lawyers argue that the payments to Mr Cohen were legitimate legal expenses.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records.
Matthew Colangelo, for the prosecution for the government said in his opening statement said the money was paid “at the defendant’s direction and he did it to influence the presidential election”.
“Donald Trump orchestrated 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 told the jury.
“You’ll see in his own words about how he feared all this could hurt him among female voters. It was election fraud, pure and simple.”
It comes as Trump said outside the court that his supporters had been "rudely and systematically shut down" while pro-Palestinian activists "basically do whatever they want".
Writing on his Truth Social platform, Trump said: “America Loving Protesters should be allowed to protest at the front steps of Courthouses, all over the Country, just like it is allowed for those who are destroying our Country on the Radical Left.
"Free Speech and Assembly has been ‘CHILLED’ for USA SUPPORTERS. GO OUT AND PEACEFULLY PROTEST.
"RALLY BEHIND MAGA [MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN] . SAVE OUR COUNTRY! 'THE ONLY THING YOU HAVE TO FEAR IS FEAR ITSELF'."
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
It comes after a man set himself on fire outside the courthouse in protest last week.
Maxwell Azzarello, from St Augustine in Florida, could be seen kneeling with his hands behind his head as horrified onlookers screamed out on Friday.
He was standing in the designated protest area for Mr Trump's supporters when the incident occurred, the NYPD said.
He doused himself with a liquid at around 1.30pm local time before setting himself alight.
Azzarello was believed to have been burning for around three minutes as people rushed over to douse him with a fire extinguisher and bat away the flames.
Emergency responders took him away on a stretcher and he later died from his injuries.
