Prosecutors at hush money trial say Trump led ‘porn star payoff’ scheme to ‘corrupt’ 2016 election [Video]

Donald Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt” the 2016 presidential election, a prosecutor told jurors Monday during opening statements in the first-ever criminal trial of a former president.

“This case is about criminal conspiracy,” prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the 12-person jury and six alternates. Trump, he said, conspired to corrupt the 2016 presidential election by conspiring with his lawyer Michael Cohen and David Pecker, who was the publisher of the National Enquirer at the time.

“Then, he covered up that criminal conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over and over again,” Colangelo said.

Pecker was called as the prosecution’s first witness following opening statements from both sides. Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche told the jury his client was not guilty because there was no crime committed.

Trump, who had his eyes closed for periods of time during the morning proceedings, seemed much more engaged when his old ally and …