An expected ordeal can nevertheless be torture. Donald Trump suffered one in silence, inside the Manhattan criminal court, Monday April 22, for the real start of his trial. The former American president had to accept the exposition of the facts gathered against him by the prosecution, justifying his indictment for 34 acts of falsification of accounting documents. It was about“electoral fraud, pure and simple”brutally summarized Matthew Colangelo, on behalf of the prosecutor’s office. “Defendant Donald Trump orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election, he explained. Then he covered up this criminal conspiracy and lied, again, again, and again, in his New York accounting documents. »
This stage of the criminal trial was of particular importance in this case which the defendant himself strives to depict in “political persecution”. Each party tries to impose its reading of the same material elements, while there is proof of the payment of 130,000 dollars made in the run-up to the election by the lawyer Michael Cohen to the former actress of X, Stormy Daniels, in exchange for his silence about his affair with Donald Trump, ten years earlier. Once elected to the White House, the latter had reimbursed his handyman with a series of monthly checks, in 2017, disguised as legal advice services. “The defendant reimbursed him for an illegal payment made to Stormy Daniels on the eve of an election”said Matthew Colangelo.
The issue in the trial is how these facts are presented. Donald Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, has denied the existence of a crime. “Ladies and gentlemen, the 34 facts are just, in reality, 34 pieces of paper,” he said. According to him, the checks signed by Donald Trump in 2017 did not constitute a ” refund “. Michael Cohen “was President Trump’s personal lawyer” and would therefore have been paid for his work. In his presentation of the facts, Todd Blanche attacked the credibility of this witness, who admitted his participation and suffered a prison sentence. The lawyer presented his former colleague as ” obsessed ” by Donald Trump and disappointed not to have obtained a position in his administration.
Trump shows restraint
The prosecution wants to include all the evidence gathered – checks, telephone messages, recordings, testimonies – in the story of electoral interference, which goes beyond the simple alteration of the accounting documents of the Trump Organization group. In short, a scheme was designed to deprive American voters of important information about the character of the Republican candidate. “A new story of sexual infidelity, especially with a porn actress (…) could have been devastating for his campaign”, said Matthew Colangelo. Donald Trump’s main lawyer, Todd Blanche, preferred to be ironic. “I have a revelation: There is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy. »
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