First day of Trump's hush money trial kicks off with opening statements and a witness
The prosecution is arguing that Donald Trump wanted to keep information out of the public fearing that it would turn off voters in 2016. The defense argues Trump did nothing illegal.
Just before 10 a.m. Monday, a jury of 18 every-day New Yorkers filed into the Manhattan courtroom where former President Donald Trump sat at the defense table.
"Members of the jury, we are about to proceed with the outset of the trial of Donald J. Trump," pronounced Judge Juan Merchan.
As Merchan began instructing the jury on their critical role over the next few weeks, Trump, the defendant, sat flanked by his legal team, occasionally looking down and slightly shifting in his chair.
Trump faces 34 felony counts alleging that he falsified New York business records in order to conceal damaging information to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump claims the trial itself is "election interference" because of how
