Donald Trump Hush Money Trial: Both Sides Give Opening Statements, Prosecutors Call Trump Actions Election Fraud

With jury selection now over, the Donald Trump hush money trial continued on Monday with both sides' lawyers delivering opening statements in front of the new jury, with the prosecution delivering a scathing opening statement that called Trump's scheme to pay Stormy Daniels hush money as an "orchestrated a criminal scheme" and that it was "election fraud pure and simple."

Trump tried to cover up his affair with Stormy Daniels while he was running for president in 2016, paying her off through Michae Cohen, his personal attorney and fixer back then. However, prosecutors presented this as an effort to fool voters as he tried to hide that he had an affair with a porn star, which would not have sat with conservative Republican voters back then.

Meanwhile, the defense denied any wrongdoing on the part of the former president, stating that "there's nothing wrong with trying to influence an election - it's called democracy."

The trial moved forward quite quickly, according to The Guardian, as right after opening statements from both sides, prosecutors called their first witness, Trump's friend and the former publisher of the National Enquirer, David Pecker. He was responsible for the "catch and kill" schemes regarding scandals that might have involved Donald Trump and he allegedly schemed with Trump and Cohen to buy the rights to Stormy Daniels' story so that it would never be published by other publications.

Donald Trump stands on trial with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, with the former president being characterized as his efforts to conceal an affair with Daniels and that he was afraid that if this came out, it would damage his bid for the presidency back in 2016.

Prosecutors Had Scathing Opening Testimony in Donald Trump Hush Money Trial

Opening statements are often just a preview of the case that either side will present to the jurors and not really present evidence for their respective cases. It is noted for being simple and not really as explosive as closing arguments.

"This was a planned, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures to silence people who had something bad to say about his behavior," prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the anonymous jurors and the six alternates. "It was election fraud, pure and simple."

The hearing has now ended and it is scheduled to resume at around 11:00 AM on Tuesday.

Donald Trump Lawyers Admit They Were Told About David Pecker Testimony But Were Still Unprepared

David Pecker's last-minute testimony was brief, but it did place Donald Trump's attorneys in a state of panic and the day ended with both sides having "legal arguments" about potential evidentiary issues.

Trump lawyer Emil Bove complained to Judge Juan Merchan that he and his colleagues did not have enough time to prepare for pecker's testimony effectively. However, he did admit that they were already told about Pecker testifying on Sunday afternoon.

Yahoo! News pointed out that "prosecutors declined to give the defense team a witness lineup over concerns Trump might share their names publicly and compromise their physical safety."

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: 'He was not rehearsed': David Pecker, key figure in 'catch and kill' scheme takes stand in NY trial - MSNBC