FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
NEW YORK – «This case concerns a criminal plan»declared prosecutor Matthew Colangelo yesterday, in his opening argument in court in Manhattan, stating that at the end of the trial the jurors will have no doubt that Donald Trump is guilty of “conspiracy and cover-up to promote his election”. «President Trump is innocent», defense lawyer Todd Blanche proclaimed shortly afterwards in his speech. «He has not committed any crime».
In fact, the first witness was yesterday David Pecker, «the king of the tabloids»publisher of National Enquirer and friend of Trump since the 1990s, which the prosecutor’s office wants to use as a sort of guide to illustrate the systematic way in which the tycoon hid the scandals concerning him from voters. Along with Trump and Cohen, Pecker is described as part of a plan orchestrated in August 2015 to hide negative information (by directly paying a doorman and a model of Playboy and facilitating the deal with Stormy), to publish positive news and attack The Donald’s enemies.
In jargon this operation is called «Catch and kill»: buy the stories and cover them up. Well-groomed white moustache, hair as gray as his suit, Pecker spoke for about twenty minutes and will return to the courtroom today; he confirmed that his tabloid was paying for the revelations (he also did it to hide a report by Arnold Schwarzenegger before he was elected governor) and that any expenditure over 10 thousand dollars had to have his approval.
But Trump’s lawyer, Blanche, declared that there is nothing illegal in this practice of the sensationalist tabloids: «I have a spoiler for you – she later added –: there is nothing wrong in trying to influence a ‘election. It’s called democracy.” Blanche then attempted to discredit two future witnesses: Cohen, calling him a liar who has already given false testimony, obsessed with the mission to destroy Trump because he wanted to enter the government and was not allowed; and Stormy Daniels, with whom the former president denies having sexual relations, declaring that he took advantage of the situation to extort money from him.
“He tried to protect his family, his reputation… it’s not a crime.” Trump, furious in statements to reporters in the hallway, remained mostly immobile in the classroom, sometimes with my eyes closed. It is not clear whether she will testify: the judge decided yesterday that, if she does, the prosecution will be able to cite her convictions in other recent trials, for fraud and for defamation of the author E. Jean Carroll.
