Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. president Donald Trump attends trial at Manhattan Criminal Court on May 20, 2024, in New York City, U.S.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A handful of courtroom hopefuls have braved all kinds of weather as they queue to catch a glimpse of Donald Trump’s seismic New York criminal trial, sometimes paying lavishly for “sitters” to hold their places in line.

Teacher Richard Partington, 43, described the trial as “one of the most fascinating and exciting experiences of my life,” arriving outside the imposing courthouse two days before proceedings to boost his chances of getting inside.

After running the gauntlet of strict security checkpoints, ancient elevators and a long fluorescent-lit corridor, Mr. Partington and six or seven others have each day been able to watch the first-ever criminal case play out against a former U.S. president.

Mr. Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide a reimbursement to his former lawyer Michael Cohen for paying off porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom it is claimed the property tycoon had a sexual encounter.

On hard wooden benches, the public spectators have joined around 50 journalists and Mr. Trump’s entourage of Republican grandees, supporters and family to see the twists and turns of the historic court case.

“I learned a lot from the news, but I think there’s some truth that you really pick up when you’re in the courtroom — you see Donald Trump walking by eight times a day, you see the judge (and) the jury,” said Mr. Partington.

“The result of this trial will likely sway this election in one way,” he added, affirming his fear of a second Trump presidency.

Along with some protesters — both anti- and pro-Trump — eager courtroom spectators have come from across the four corners of the United States.

Retired lawyer Peter Osetek travelled almost 3,000 miles from San Diego on the other side of the country to visit his son in New York and to see “history being made.”

‘Pay to play’

Trial followers often have more luck in an overflow room, where a live feed is streamed to around 30 members of the public and journalists unable to be in the main trial space.

Justin Ford, an IT worker from Connecticut, said he was drawn to line up for a chance to see “a former president of the United States (who) is on trial, and it’s not televised. I want to witness it with my own eyes.”

Mr. Ford, 42, missed the chance to get inside the trial — despite arriving in the middle of the night.

He has forensic knowledge of the trial’s ins and outs, avidly reading the verbatim transcripts that are posted on the court’s website daily.

The line to get in operates on a strictly “first come, first served” basis, fueling a booming market for line sitters.

For around $50 an hour, professional queue holders will stand in for court hopefuls, with the best spots in the line re-sold for as much as $2,000 when Mr. Trump’s arch-nemesis Mr. Cohen testified.

Mr. Ford called the “pay to play” phenomenon “pretty sad.”

Funke Sangodeyi, who described herself as a “total political junkie,” said she paid $700 for a spot in the overflow room.

“It was amazing to witness the American justice system holding a president accountable. It’s a historical moment,” said Ms. Sangodeyi, 48, a consultant from Brooklyn.

Like most of those who spoke to AFP, Ms. Sangodeyi sees the justice system as capable of preventing Mr. Trump’s return to the White House, saying she hopes a conviction will put off crucial swing voters.

More than anything, the trial highlights that “no one is above the law,” said pediatrician Cindy Mobley who traveled two and a half hours by train from Baltimore.

“It feels like it is the last frontier, the last thing that can hold us together,” said the 64-year-old, who spent part of the night in a sleeping bag at the foot of the courthouse.

A New York appeals court on May 14 upheld the gag order in Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, finding that the judge “properly determined” that Mr. Trump’s public statements “posed a significant threat to the integrity of the testimony of witnesses and potential witnesses in this case as well.” Mr. Trump had asked the state’s intermediate appeals court to lift or modify the gag order, which bars him from commenting publicly about jurors, witnesses and others connected to the case, including Judge Juan M. Merchan’s family and prosecutors other than District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

At an emergency hearing last month, just days before the trial started, Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that the gag order is an unconstitutional curb on the presumptive Republican nominee’s free speech rights while he’s campaigning for President and fighting criminal charges.

In its ruling, the five-judge appeals panel noted that Mr. Trump wasn’t claiming that the gag order had infringed on his right to a fair trial. Rather, Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that prohibiting him from commenting restricted his ability to engage in protected political speech and could adversely impact on his campaign.

The appeals court ruled that Judge Merchan “properly weighed” Mr. Trump’s free speech rights against the “historical commitment to ensuring the fair administration of justice in criminal cases, and the right of persons related or tangentially related to the criminal proceedings from being free from threats, intimidation, harassment, and harm”. Mr. Trump’s fixer-turned-foe Michael Cohen returned to the witness stand on May 14, testifying in detail about how the former President was linked to all aspects of the hush-money scheme that prosecutors say was an illegal effort to purchase and then bury stories that threatened his 2016 campaign.

Mr. Trump, the first former U.S. President to go on trial, was joined at the courthouse by an entourage of GOP lawmakers that included House Speaker Mike Johnson and others considered vice presidential contenders for Mr. Trump’s 2024 campaign. Their presence was a not-so-subtle show of support meant not just for Mr. Trump, but also for voters tuning in to trial coverage and for the jurors deciding Mr. Trump’s fate.

As proceedings began, Mr. Johnson held a news conference outside the courthouse, using his powerful pulpit to attack the U.S. judicial system. It was a remarkable moment in American politics as the person second in line to the presidency sought to turn his political party against the rule of law by declaring the Manhattan criminal trial illegitimate.

“I do have a lot of surrogates, and they’re speaking very beautifully,” Mr. Trump said before court as the group gathered in the background. “And they come … from all over Washington. And they’re highly respected, and they think this is the greatest scam they’ve ever seen.” Mr. Cohen, meanwhile, resumed his place on the witness stand as prosecutor Susan Hoffinger worked to paint him as a Trump loyalist who committed crimes on behalf of the former President.

Mr. Cohen told jurors that he lied to the Congress during an investigation into potential ties between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign to protect Mr. Trump. He also described for jurors the April 2018 raid by law enforcement on his apartment, law firm, a hotel room where he stayed and a bank where he stashed valuables.

“How to describe your life being turned upside-down. Concerned. Despondent. Angry,” he said.

“Were you frightened?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.

“Yes, ma’am.” But he said he was heartened by a phone call from Mr. Trump that he said gave him reassurance and convinced him to remain “in the camp.” He said to me, Don’t worry. I’m the President of the United States. There’s nothing here. Everything’s going to be OK. Stay tough. You’re going to be OK,’” Mr. Cohen testified.

Mr. Cohen told jurors that “I felt reassured because I had the President of the United States protecting me … And so I remained in the camp.” But their relationship soured, and now Mr. Cohen is one of Mr. Trump’s most vocal critics. His testimony is central to the Manhattan case.

Mr. Cohen testified that after paying out $1,30,000 to porn actress Stormy Daniels in order to keep her quiet about an alleged sexual encounter, Mr. Trump promised to reimburse him. He said Mr. Trump was constantly apprised of the behind-the-scenes efforts to bury stories feared to be harmful to the campaign.

Jurors followed along as Ms. Hoffinger, in a methodical and clinical fashion, walked Mr. Cohen through that reimbursement process. It was an attempt to show what prosecutors say was a lengthy deception to mask the true purpose of the payments. As jurors were shown business records and other paperwork, Mr. Cohen explained their purpose and reiterated again and again that the payments were reimbursements for the hush-money. They weren’t for legal services he provided or for a retainer, he said.

It’s an important distinction, because prosecutors allege that the Mr. Trump records falsely described the purpose of the payments as legal expenses. These records form the basis of 34 felony counts charging Mr. Trump with falsifying business records. All told, Mr. Cohen was paid $4,20,000, with funds drawn from a Trump personal account.

“Were the descriptions on this check stub false?” Ms. Hoffinger asked.

“Yes,” Mr. Cohen said.

“And again, there was no retainer agreement,” Ms. Hoffinger asked.

“Correct,” Mr. Cohen replied.

Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty and also denies that any of the encounters took place.

During his time on the witness stand, Mr. Cohen delivered matter-of-fact testimony that went to the heart of the former President’s trial: “Everything required Mr. Trump’s sign-off,” Mr. Cohen said. He told jurors that Mr. Trump did not want Ms. Daniels’ account of a sexual encounter to get out. At the time, Mr. Trump was especially anxious about how the story would affect his standing with female voters.

A similar episode occurred when Mr. Cohen alerted Mr. Trump that a Playboy model was alleging that she and Mr. Trump had an extramarital affair. “Make sure it doesn’t get released,” was Mr. Cohen’s message to Mr. Trump, according to testimony. The woman, Karen McDougal, was paid $1,50,000 in an arrangement that was made after Mr. Trump received a “complete and total update on everything that transpired.” “What I was doing, I was doing at the direction of and benefit of Mr. Trump,” Mr. Cohen testified.

Prosecutors believe Mr. Cohen’s insider knowledge is critical to their case. But their reliance on a witness with such a checkered past — Mr. Cohen pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the payments — also carries sizable risks with a jury.

The men, once so close that Mr. Cohen boasted that he would “take a bullet” for Mr. Trump, had no visible interaction inside the courtroom. The sedate atmosphere was a marked contrast from their last courtroom faceoff in October, when Mr. Trump walked out of the courtroom after his lawyer finished questioning Mr. Cohen during his civil fraud trial.

Throughout Mr. Cohen’s testimony on May 14, Mr. Trump reclined in his chair with his eyes closed and his head tilted to the side. He shifted from time to time, occasionally leaning forward and opening his eyes, making a comment to his attorney before returning to his recline. Even some of the topics that have animated him the most as he campaigns didn’t stir his attention.

Mr. Trump’s lawyers will get their chance to question Mr. Cohen as early as Tuesday, when they’re expected to attack his credibility. He was disbarred, went to prison and separately pleaded guilty to lying about a Moscow real estate project on Mr. Trump’s behalf.

Prosecutors launched the hush-money trial of Donald Trump by revealing new details Monday about how they seek to prove the former president corrupted the 2016 election to bury a sex scandal, while a defence lawyer countered the payment was meant only to protect his reputation.

The trial in lower Manhattan, the first of a former president, involves 34 felony counts alleging Trump falsified business records to cover up a $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to stifle her claims of a sexual liaison. Prosecutors say he falsified records by claiming the reimbursements to his former attorney, Michael Cohen, who paid Daniels, were for legal fees.

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo used his opening statement Monday to sketch out a criminal conspiracy involving Trump, Cohen and David Pecker, who ran the company that owned the National Enquirer and agreed to buy and bury negative news about the former president. The plot, he said, began in a May 2015 meeting in Trump Tower.

“The evidence will show this was not spin or strategy but a plan to influence the election to help Donald Trump get elected,” he said. “It was election fraud, pure and simple.”

The trial takes place as Trump, 77, seeks to return to the White House in a rematch with President Joe Biden. It’s one of four prosecutions hanging over the presumptive Republican nominee, who calls the case election interference and a witch hunt by Democrats.

Trump attorney Todd Blanche had a different spin on the events.

“Spoiler alert: there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election,” Blanche said. “It’s called democracy.”

Trump’s Reputation

He assailed the prosecution case and their witnesses. Daniels had threatened to go public with her account of having sex with Trump in 2006, which was “almost an attempt to extort” him, Blanche said. Cohen, the DA’s star witness, is “obsessed” with Trump and will lie to see him convicted, he said.

“It was sinister, it was an attempt to embarrass President Trump,” the defence lawyer said. Trump bought the silence of Daniels, he said, to protect “his family, his reputation and his brand.”

Blanche said his “larger than life” client is a victim of overreaching prosecutors who put their faith in Daniels and Cohen, the former Trump fixer who went to prison for perjury and other crimes.

The basic events of the trial have been known since 2018, and more specifically since Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg indicted Trump last year. But Colangelo revealed that the evidence includes insider accounts by Cohen and Pecker, emails, text messages, and recordings of Trump discussing the repayment, he said.

The crimes center around business records that Trump allegedly covered up in reimbursing $420,000 to Cohen, or more than twice what he paid Daniels to buy her silence, Colangelo said. After he was elected, Colangelo said, Trump falsely claimed the payments were for legal fees, he said.

Porn Star Payment

“They couldn’t say ‘reimbursement for porn star payment’ so they had to cook the books,” Colangelo said.

Jurors will hear Trump “working out the terms of the deal” on tape with Cohen, Colangelo said. “You will hear the defendant’s own voice in a recorded conversation.”

Their goal was to conceal damaging information ahead of the election and trash Trump’s opponents like Ted Cruz and Ben Carson with scurrilous stories. The Enquirer would “catch and kill” damaging stories, or buy unflattering articles with no intention of publishing them.

Pecker was called briefly as the prosecution’s first witness Monday, giving some basics about his role, and will return Tuesday. He said he had the final say over which stories were published in the Enquirer and which didn’t see the light of day.

“We used chequebook journalism and paid for the story,” he said.

Access Hollywood

Colangelo said the revelation in October 2016 of the so-called Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump bragged about his conquest of women, had an “immediate and explosive” effect on the campaign. That meant he had to sign a non-disclosure agreement with Daniels, to prevent any further election surprises.

“The campaign was concerned,” the prosecutor said. “They knew it was damaging, not only because Trump bragged about sexual assault” but it was “in his own words, in his own voice.”

Bragg filed the first of four criminal indictments of the former president. What was unclear until Monday was how the former president would defend Bragg’s specific charges beyond attacking the DA and calling it an unfair witch hunt.

Trump, who wore a navy suit, white shirt and blue tie, seemed subdued and often jotted notes as Blanche took aim at Cohen, the witness who can most directly tie the payments to the election. Blanche recounted Cohen’s criminal record since leaving Trump, including his prison term for tax fraud and lying under oath to Congress.

“He raised his hand, swore to tell the truth and then lied, under oath,” Blanche said. As a podcaster and book author, Cohen is now obsessed with Trump, saying “his entire livelihood depends on this Trump obsession.”

Trusting such a man is a mistake, the defence lawyer said.

“You cannot make a decision on President Trump based on Michael Cohen,” Blanche said.

He also took shots at Daniels, whom he said profited greatly from her account of having sex with Trump in 2006 and still owes him $600,000 in legal judgments. He told jurors that her story doesn’t relate to the financial transactions made by Cohen that are at the heart of the case.

“Her testimony, while salacious, does not matter,” Blanche said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)