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 checkbook journalism and paid for the story,” he said.

Access Hollywood

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