Trump tri­al: New York pros­e­cu­tors and defense give open­ing argu­ments

NEW YORK — Don­ald Trump sat qui­et­ly fac­ing for­ward on Mon­day as pros­e­cu­tors recit­ed the 34-count hush mon­ey indict­ment to a jury in the first crim­i­nal tri­al against a for­mer pres­i­dent.
A 12-per­son jury in Man­hat­tan lis­tened to the open­ing state­ments by pros­e­cu­tor Matthew Colan­ge­lo, who used his time to lay out a com­pre­hen­sive nar­ra­tive about the facts of the case. He focused much of his open­ing state­ment on describ­ing the role of Michael Cohen, Trump’s for­mer attor­ney and fix­er, say­ing his job was “to take care of prob­lems for the defen­dant.”

For­mer Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump sits in court on the first day of open­ing argu­ments in his tri­al at Man­hat­tan Crim­i­nal Court in New York, Mon­day, April 22, 2024. (Vic­tor J. Blue/The Wash­ing­ton Post via AP, Pool)

Colan­ge­lo said Cohen used his own mon­ey to scrounge up $130,000 to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels for her silence about an alleged sex­u­al enc …