Court adjourns after first day of Trump’s historic criminal trial – as it happened

15 Apr 202411.52 EDT

Judge rules Access Hollywood transcript can be shown to jury

Hugo Lowell

To recap: Merchan reiterated that the Access Hollywood tape and Trump’s reference to the tape in a deposition won’t come into evidence.

But Merchan allowed into evidence the transcript – so that prosecutors can read out the full Trump quote “grab them by the pussy” – and a 2015 email chain where Hope Hicks forwards the transcript to Kellyanne Conway asking if it was Trump’s voice, to which Conway asks Michael Cohen who was doing damage control.

During the break, Donald Trump was asked by reporters how the trial is going. Trump waved and gave a thumbs up, per pool.

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After a brief break, Trump is back in the courtroom and proceedings are about to resume. Jury selection still has not yet begun.

Josh Steinglass, the Manhattan district attorney prosecutor, has indicated that the prosecution will ask the judge to hold Trump in contempt for his attacks on witnesses.

15 Apr 202411.38 EDT

Sam Levine

Republicans and critics of the case see the trial as a ripe opportunity to paint the Manhattan district attorney, Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, as a partisan player.

The perception that the crimes in the hush money case are relatively minor compared with the other charges Trump faces only augments that narrative.

“If I were designing a case that would be easy for Republicans to dismiss as a partisan witch-hunt, I would design exactly this case,” said Whit Ayres, a longtime Republican pollster.

This does not look like a prosecutor fairly and objectively trying to uphold the rule of law. It sounds like a Democrat out to get Donald Trump by any possible means.

But Karen Friedman Agnifilo, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney’s office, said the facts of the case were relatively routine, and described it as a “boring paper case” dealing with charges that are routinely brought.

New York court data obtained by the Guardian shows there have been nearly 600 cases since 2013 in Manhattan involving a charge of falsification of business records. A New York Times analysis found only two other felony cases over the last decade in which someone was charged with falsification of business records but no other crime.

“The only thing special about this case is the defendant. That’s it,” Agnifilo said.

This is not anyone bending over backwards. This is not anyone doing anything other than enforcing the law.

A courthouse sketch by courtroom artist Elizabeth Williams shows Donald Trump speaking with his attorney Todd Blanche in the Manhattan criminal court.

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The court is taking a short break.

Per pool, Trump has been watching along at the defense table on his own computer monitor screen.

Among the things he looked at on the screen were his E Jean Carroll deposition snippet, a video of remarks he made at a rally late in the 2016 election campaign, and examples of tweets that prosectors said show Trump’s pressure campaign on Michael Cohen not to flip.

In the Access Hollywood tape, Trump described grabbing women sexually without their permission.

Merchan had previously denied prosecutors’ request to play the video, but prosecutors will be able to question witnesses about it in court.

15 Apr 202411.13 EDT

Victoria Bekiempis

Merchan has shot down prosecutors’ push to bring in three other allegations.

Prosecutors are seeking to admit the fact there were three women who came forward with allegations of sexual assault against Trump.

In denying the request, Merchan said it would be “very prejudicial,” noting they hadn’t been proven.

15 Apr 202411.00 EDT

Victoria Bekiempis

The email to former Trump campaign secretary Hope Hicks “is powerful evidence of the campaign’s reaction to the incendiary [Access Hollywood video]”, Manhattan DA prosecutor Josh Steinglass says.

Stormy Daniels, he said, “was living proof” of the fact that Trump was involved in boorish behavior.

Prosecutors also wanted to introduce a clip from the E Jean Carroll deposition where he references the tape.

Merchan ruled that the Access Hollywood tape itself could not come in, nor should the Carroll deposition tape. Merchan said he wants to avoid a trial within a trial.

The judge ruled that the deposition and the Access Hollywood tape would not be admitted, but that the emails could be.

15 Apr 202410.52 EDT

Victoria Bekiempis

Josh Steinglass is explaining why evidence relating to the Access Hollywood tape should be admitted and why doing so is legal.

“We request to be able to elicit testimony that describes the tape,” the Manhattan district attorney prosecutor said. He said this will show Trump’s motive in the Stormy scheme, as team Trump’s discussion of the tape showed how they were trying to keep things from spiraling.

David Farenhold of the Washington Post emailed former campaign press secretary Hope Hicks about three hours before the Post’s story with the “grab ‘em” tape went online. The email included a transcript of the Access Hollywood video, and asked Hicks several questions abut the tape.

Hicks then fowarded the email to other campaign officials including Steve Bannon and Kelly Conway, Steinglass said.

It appears that Steve Bannon forwarded this email chain to Michael Cohen.

In the email, it said “It’s all over the place. Who’s doing damage control.”