Opening arguments begin in criminal case against Trump

New York (EFE).- The opening arguments phase of the criminal trial against former US President Donald Trump, accused of buying the silence of a porn actress and falsifying documents to protect his 2016 election campaign, got underway this Monday in a Manhattan courtroom started. Media expectations.

The process, which is entering its second week and today includes the interventions of the prosecution and the defense of the former ruler (2017-2021), began when a small group of anti-Trump protesters protested at the entrance to the judicial headquarters. Exhibited. : “No one is above the law.”

Inside the room, one of the angry photos was of Trump’s face, whose eyes were briefly half-closed, while one of his lawyers, Todd Blanche, gave him a little push to deliver a note and keep him awake.

A few minutes earlier, Trump had decided not to answer some questions from journalists regarding the whereabouts of his wife, Melania Trump, who had been absent for the past days and in general had been seen little with him in the past months.

According to The New York Times last week, Melania fears the trial will reopen some wounds in the marriage because it would reveal Donald Trump’s extramarital affair with porn actress Stormy Daniels – which he denies – in 2006, only One a year after his marriage to Melania and while she was pregnant with Barron.

Silence doesn’t suit Trump

Trump, even without breaking the gag order, has not stopped complaining about the implications of the test: “Make no mistake, this is a Biden test, everybody. This is election interference. Sad!”, the former US President also published this morning on his social network, Truth Social.

At the beginning of this phase of preliminary arguments, judge-in-charge Juan Marchán explained that due to an alternate juror, today’s session would end before 2 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT).

Dubbed ‘The Trial of the Century’ by the press, this judicial proceeding is the first of a criminal nature faced by a former President of the United States.