Trump is accused of ordering payments to people who threatened to leak sensitive information about him during the election.
First into the witness stand was a former director of a tabloid newspaper in New York. He is said to have been part of a task force that looked for people who were sitting on sensitive information about Donald Trump – and then paid them to keep quiet.
Paid ex-poor star
According to the prosecutor’s side, Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election campaign, among other things, paid former porn star Stephanie Clifford to keep quiet about an alleged affair she allegedly had with Trump.
According to Colangelo, the National Enquirer tabloid warned Trump’s attorney at the time, Michael Cohen, that Clifford wanted to come forward with allegations of a sexual relationship with Trump.
“At Trump’s behest, Cohen negotiated a deal to buy Daniel’s story to prevent American voters from hearing that story before Election Day,” Colangelo said.
The lawyer: “It’s called democracy”
According to Trump’s lawyer, Todd Blanche, this is no nonsense.
– There is nothing strange about entering into a confidentiality agreement, he is said to have said in his opening speech according to Politico.
– Spoiler alert: There is nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy.
Now around six weeks of negotiations await. The indictment is one of four brought against the former President of the United States. Donald Trump continues to deny wrongdoing in all cases.
Hear SVT’s US correspondent Fouad Youcefi in the video above about what tactics the prosecution and the defense are expected to use.