Renowned trial attorney Arthur Aidala tells Inside Edition that opening statements are crucial to the jury. "You need to come out of that box as strong as you can on both sides," she says.
The criminal trial of former President Donald Trump was well underway on Monday, as the prosecution and defense teams presented their opening statements before prosecutors then called their first witness to the stand.
At the courthouse in downtown Manhattan, Trump’s attorney, Todd Blanche, called the prosecution’s key witness, Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen, a “criminal” and an “admitted liar.”
“His livelihood relies on Trump being destroyed,” Blanche told the jury. “I submit to you that he can not be trusted.”
The attorney also called out Stormy Daniels.
“She has made a lot more money since the story came out,” Blanche said.
Trump reportedly sat expressionless in court until the prosecutors read aloud a transcript of the notorious Access Hollywood tape they said depicted Trump bragging about sexual assault. Trump reportedly “shook his head.”
Trump arrived at the courthouse with 16 assistants and attorneys, including his lawyer Alina Habba.
“He should not be here today because he did nothing wrong,” Habba said outside the court.
Renowned trial attorney Arthur Aidala tells Inside Edition that opening statements are crucial to the jury.
"The New York Times did a study years ago of jurors and they found that 80% of jurors felt that whatever they thought the result was gonna be after openings turned out to be what the result was,” Aidala says. “So you need to come out of that box as strong as you can on both sides.”
The first witness called to the stand was David Pecker, the former publisher of The National Enquirer tabloid. Prosecutors say Pecker orchestrated a “catch and kill” scheme on behalf of Trump, paying Daniels for her story and not publishing it.
“We used checkbook journalism, and we paid for stories,” Pecker told the court.
