Minute, people the state of new york versus donald j. Trump started The Main Event Opening Statement hey, miss, youre looking at my picture in downtown new york. The courthouse and you hadnt soon the judge will gavel in and cmt the jury for the first ever prosecution of a former United States president. Minutes ago, we watched trump walk into court after his motorcade arrived at 100 centre street. We expect him to stop for the cameras and talk before heading inside get up in the judge and the jury prosecutors will chart a roadmap of what they intend to prove, how they say the former president helm, the scheme to buried the details of a sexual encounter with adult film actress. In the final month, the 2016 campaign remainders cooper, new york, youre watching Cnn Special Live Coverage of donald trump Hush Money Trial. And im jake tapper in washington today, a Courtroom Collision Filled with history shattering precedent, and a Stock Possibility that one of the two major candidates for pre
Course to trial, we just hear from each and every one is likely maybe different parts that colangelos has been a big figure though, in terms of the trump campaign, right . Yeah, he has been the focus of Donald Trumps unfounded claims that this is somehow joe bidens doing because Matthew Colangelo was at the Justice Department before he came over to the de no connection whatsoever. Keep in mind this case is not about just an alleged affair between may daniels was of course, trump has denied this is about at its core, they have to prove election interference. So listen for this Theme Today when the prosecution gives its opening, theyre going to say this is not about a paperwork crime. This is about an effort by Donald Trump to hide those Hush Money Payments from the american public in the closing days of the 2016 election. And therefore to interfere with the 2016 election itself, that will be a key theme when the prosecution opens in a few moments the house i expect them to do as prosecu
Morning. He famously would not show up to the Oval Office until 11 or 11, 30 he is going to be having to show up in court, is called and stay. The other thing is the jurors are going to be watching him. Theyre going to be watching every move i think over time the question is inperson, is he bigger than life or is he diminished . One of the potential jurors who was dismissed came out and said to us you know, he was just some guy just some guy lets dive into the legalities of it. All law codes. What are you expecting to hear from the Prosecution Today . Well, theyve got to hit the ground, not just running, but sprinting a lot of this in the facts had been known to some degree, he will know Whos Drama daniels as they know who Michael Cohen is, they know who david or least national enquirer as they know donald trump. And so the prosecution is going to have to figure out a way to suggest that this is somehow different, that they is delete with their
Mr. Sharaf, good to see you again we are told that the Defense Opening Statement will be about 20 minutes long. Prosecution, 40 minutes. What do you expect the Defense Opening Statement to focus on . How are they going to try to frame this case for the jury on behalf of mr. Trump jake, were looking to focus on the facts and cutting through all the sensationalism, all the sort of lurid details that have been aired in the media for years is going to be difficult. But at the end of the day, if the jury just looked at looks at the facts that will be in evidence, we believe we have a winning case. I dont think President Trump did anything wrong here. I think the Business Records in question were accurate. They accurately reflected payments to an active attorney for President Trump. And if the jury is just able to cut through all the noise, we think this is going to be a great trial for us. So just for those who are uninitiated in some of the details of what mr. Scharf just said youre sugges
Going to do is theyre going to have to as we say, pull the staying, theyre gonna have to say look, folks, youve heard, you will hear that hes pled guilty to perjury and other crimes, but the prosecution will argue now hes come clean. Now you can bank on him. We also expect the prosecution to look forward to who its other key witnesses will be to introduce those to the jury, including david, who we expect to be the first witness today, just to be clear, im pointing out here karen mcdougal, who is somebody who was allegedly paid 150,000 by david. But She Hurricanes was not a criminal charge foundation. Its about Stormy Daniels payment. Thats an issue here. Exactly. Right. And the evidence that mcdougal will be introduced by the prosecutors to show that this is a pattern. One more key theme well hear from the prosecutors. They will say that everything you hear of importance for Michael Cohen or everyone else is corroborated. Prosecutors love that word. Corroboration. It is backed up by do