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
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
What this is going to look like and what his team has been preparing for is their opening statement, which is going to be pretty short, pretty blunt, but they are trying to also charm and persuade these jurors just like the prosecution is trump for his part. His life is about to change when you walked that courtroom this morning for the next six weeks, we dont know what the outcome of this is going to be, what we do know that for the next six to eight weeks, potentially, he is going to be someone who sits in a courtroom who doesnt have a chance to respond in realtime in those moments as he is watching people who were incredibly close to him get up on that Witness Stand and say things that he disagrees with, that he contradicts, and things that are incredibly personal to have these allegations and these are people like hope hicks, his former top aide, and one of his closest confidants, michael cohen, his former attorney, david, who we may hear from today is going to be fascinating. This
But theyve been trying really hard to rebrand this case that Everyone Dub the hush Money Case instead, trying to reframe it as a case about the Rule Of Law and whether trump broke it to help his chances in 2016 . Then the defense will have a chance to go. Weve learned that their statement will likely be a little on the Shorter Sayyed wouldve been told the themes of their case, theyre going to be look, there was no crime. Trump is not involved at paperwork at this level. Michael cohen was working for him doing legal work at the time in question, and since then, he is someone who now has a vendetta against trump and hes a convicted good liar. But i said thats what should happen to issues that we might have to deal with at the top of this hearing. The first is whether theres any other issue with the jury we saw last week one juror decided she couldnt do this. She just wasnt willing to risk to take the risks that are involved in this kind of work. And then we also saw another juror who are
Before the election. And in this effort. And thats why david could be key. But, but i think big picture when you look at what trump hes been saying, is he his mindset going into this . Hes complaining about the Gag Order incessantly. Im told privately the idea that he cant directly attack the judges family. The prosecutors in this case, he can go after alvin bragg, but not other members of the team. That Isnt Something that well talk about more tomorrow, but it has been a big thing of his the other thing interested, theres a lot of security outside the courthouse. Understandably, we saw what happened last week. It is a former president who is going on trial. Trump has been complaining that his supporters, when theres only a few dozen, its not a huge group because weve been live outside the courthouse for several weeks now. That they cant come closer to the courthouse because he he is viewing this all through the lens of the Campaign Trail and what that means going into it and the fact