Donald Trump’s criminal trial on charges of falsifying business records to conceal a hush-money payment to the adult film star Stormy Daniels began in earnest on Monday, with lawyers for both sides making their opening statements.

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A jury of seven men and five women will weigh whether Trump’s alleged efforts to conceal an affair with Daniels, which he feared would damage his bid for the White House, were illicit. Trump was charged in the spring of 2023 with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Here are the key takeaways from opening statements on Monday. To recap what happened today:

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• The prosecution said Trump “orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election” in his efforts to cover up an alleged affair with Daniels.

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• The prosecution called its first witness to the stand: David Pecker, former publisher of the National Enquirer and a man at the heart of Trump’s alleged crimes.

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• Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told jurors that Trump, his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen and Pecker hatched a plan to keep damaging information about Trump out of the press. Colangelo said this “catch-and-kill” campaign was geared towards helping Trump’s 2016 election campaign. He mentioned an earlier payment to Karen McDougal, the Playboy model who claimed to have had an affair with Trump.

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• The prosecutor also read out a transcript of Trump’s infamous comments on the set of the Access Hollywood television show, where Trump bragged he could sexually assault women because he was famous, and noted that the video was released to the public in October 2016, one month before election day.

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• The defense argued that “there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election – it’s called democracy”.

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• Trump’s attorney Todd Blanche said Trump “is innocent” and made an effort to humanize Trump, while also repeatedly calling him “President Trump”.

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• Blanche argued that Trump was unaware about the specifics of the hush-money payments because he left it all to Cohen. Trump had nothing to do with the 34 checks other than to sign them, Blanche said.

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• Trump, who has appeared mostly dour throughout the proceedings and fell asleep briefly at several points last week, looked very attentive to and focused on Pecker’s testimony.

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David Pecker has completed his testimony for the day and is dismissed from the stand. He is expected to return tomorrow.

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The jury is slowly filing out.

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David Pecker was a key Trump ally who served as the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer.

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Pecker helped Trump by purchasing the rights to potentially damaging stories and then never publishing them, a practice known as “catch and kill”. In 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at Trump Tower, who was trying to sell a story that Trump had allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock.

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In June of 2016, AMI paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, $150,000 to suppress a story about an affair. AMI bought the story with the understanding that Trump would reimburse them, according to the indictment. Michael Cohenwould later release a tape of him and Trump discussing repaying Pecker.

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In 2016, Dylan Howard, then the editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, alerted Pecker that Daniels had potentially damaging information about Trump, according to the indictment. Pecker advised Howard to reach out to Cohen, and Cohen subsequently negotiated the deal with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer.

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}],”data”:{“alt”:”David Pecker in New York on 8 April 2015.”,”caption”:”David Pecker in New York on 8 April 2015.”,”credit”:”Photograph: [your Name] /BFAnyc.com/REX/Shutterstock”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”:1713802137000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”12.08 EDT”,”blockLastUpdated”:1713803000000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”12.23 EDT”,”blockFirstPublished”:1713802224000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”12.10 EDT”,”blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”12.10″,”title”:”Who is David Pecker?”,”contributors”:[] ,”primaryDateLine”:”Mon 22 Apr 2024 14.09 EDT”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First published on Mon 22 Apr 2024 06.38 EDT”},{“id”:”66268b418f0880906b780d60″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

And we’re off to the races. Judge Juan Merchan directs prosecution to call first witness. “The people call David Pecker.”

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Pecker, with his silvery hair slicked back, sporting a slate suit and a yellow tie, walked to the witness stand.

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He was instructed to raise his right hand while being sworn in and when he was directed to stand in a different direction, offered a smile. He’s seated at the stand.

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Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just said “good afternoon, Mr Pecker,” to which he replied, “Good afternoon.”

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Trump lead lawyer Todd Blanche’s defense opening statement to the jury appears to be that Trump was unaware about the specifics of the hush-money payments because Trump left it all to his ex-lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen.

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Trump had nothing to do with the 34 checks other than to sign them, Blanche says. Trump had nothing to do with generating the checks or the allegedly falsified entries on the Trump Organization ledger, he says.

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Blanche adds that there’s nothing wrong with trying to influence the 2016 election: “It’s called democracy.” And that’s the other thrust of Trump’s defense:

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n

Entering into a non-disclosure agreement is perfectly legal; companies do that all the time.

n

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And now it’s the defense’s turn.

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Defense attorney Todd Blanche is telling jurors:

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n

President Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes. The Manhattan district attorney should never have brought this case.

n

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Blanche is trying hard to humanize Trump, while also repeatedly calling him “President Trump”. It’s an odd balance to strike – trying to portray him as a normal guy, but also the former commander-in-chief.

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n

President Trump, you’ve seen him, of course, for years and years and years … He’s, in some ways, larger than life. But he’s also here in this courtroom doing what any of us would do – defending himself.

n

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As for why they’re using “President” for a man who’s no longer in the White House?

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n

This is a title that he has earned, because he was our 45th president. We will call him President Trump, out of respect for the office that he held from 2017 to 2021.

n

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Blanche, shortly thereafter, said: “He’s also a man, he’s a husband, he’s a father, he’s a person who’s just like you and just like me.”

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Here’s a look at some of the people who are likely to play a key role in the case.

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Manhattan DA Matthew Colangelo said:

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n

Look, no politician wants bad press, but the evidence at trial will show that this wasn’t spin or communication strategy. This was a planned, coordinated, long-running conspiracy to influence the 2016 election, to help Donald Trump get elected through illegal expenditures – to silence people with something bad to say about his behavior.

n

“,”elementId”:”b14f7032-9ba6-4545-ba23-6aa20cbeb085″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

He added:

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It was election fraud, pure and simple.

n

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Colangelo said “we’ll never know” whether this conspiracy made the difference “in a close election”.

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While Colangelo is sticking to the facts, his word choice is keeping things interesting – which, admittedly, can be hard in a record about allegedly illicit financial records.

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Among the entertaining quips was when he described a meeting between Michael Cohen and former Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg – who pleaded guilty – to discuss how his ex-lawyer would be repaid.

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n

Neither Trump nor the Trump Organization could just write a check to Cohen for $130,000 with a memo line that said ‘reimbursement for porn star payoff’ – they had to disguise the nature of the repayment, so they agreed to cook the books and make it look like the repayment was actually income.

n

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The prosecution’s opening statement has just started. Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo says:

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n

This case is about a criminal conspiracy and fraud. The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election then, he covered up that conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over, and, over, and over again.

n

“,”elementId”:”8d7dd193-02cf-4b07-b89c-8a9778381122″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Trump “invited his friend, David Pecker, to a meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan”, he says. Pecker, Cohen, and Trump met “as part of that agreement, Michael Cohen paid $130,000 to an adult film actress named Stormy Daniels … to silence her, and to make sure the public did not learn about a sexual encounter with the defendant”.

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n

The defendant said in his business records that he was paying Cohen for legal services pursuant to a legal agreement but those were lies: there was no retainer agreement Cohen was not paying for legal services, the defendant was paying him back for an illegal payment to Stormy Daniels on the eve of the election … he wanted to conceal his and others’ criminal conduct.

n

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Manhattan district attorney prosecutor Matthew Colangelo has begun his side’s opening statement. He says:

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n

This case is about a criminal conspiracy. The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election. Then he covered up that scheme by lying in his New York business records, over and over and over again.

n

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Donald Trump is leaning forward in his chair as he listens to Judge Merchan read preliminary jury instructions.

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It’s going to be an exceptionally busy legal week for Trump:

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n

• On Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, Trump must sit in New York state criminal court for this trial about falsification of business records to influence the 2016 presidential election;

n

• Also on Monday, a New York civil judge is set to hold a hearing to decide whether to cancel Trump’s $175m bond in his civil fraud case;

n

• On Thursday, Trump’s legal team will argue before the US supreme court that Trump has presidential immunity and cannot be prosecuted over his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

n

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Judge Juan Merchan says a juror who expressed concerns is staying on the panel. He says:

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n

Juror No 9 is going to remain with us, so that’s not going to be an issue.

n

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Donald Trump addressed reporters before entering the Manhattan courtroom, where he complained about his treatment and once again described himself as a victim of a “witch hunt”.

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“What’s going on right here should never be happening. It’s a very, very sad day in America,” Trump told reporters.

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The former president focused much of his remarks on the New York attorney general, Letitia James,and her civil fraud suit against him. James is “the worst attorney general in the country,” Trump complained.

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The court is now in session.

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Opening statements are expected to begin soon.

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The prosecution will probably try to frame the trial not as a sex scandal, but as another case of Trump’s attempts to interfere with elections. After all, that’s what they argue elevates this case to a felony: the prosecution say Trump falsified business records (normally a misdemeanor) in order to violate US campaign finance law (a federal crime).

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The defense will be trying to downplay the events as a sordid but forgivable case of trying to hide an affair, which doesn’t rise to the level of a federal crime. They’re also likely to pile on Cohen’s own shady history in order to throw doubt on his claim that he discussed the deal with Trump in the Oval Office in 2017.

“,”elementId”:”470afffb-9a5b-4ff4-bca2-0f14d0073383″},{“_type”:”model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”

Trump’s criminal hush-money trial: what to know

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n

• A guide to Trump’s hush-money trial – so far

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• The jurors: who is on the Trump trial jury?

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• The key arguments prosecutors will use against Trump

n

• How will Trump’s trial work?

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• From Michael Cohen to Stormy Daniels: the key players

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Donald Trump has arrived at the Manhattan central courthouse for the opening in earnest of his criminal trial, likely to include opening statements today.

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The Guardian’s Victoria Bekiempis and Hugo Lowell are at the courthouse.

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Donald Trump left Trump Tower, waving to assembled press, and is on his way in a motorcade to the Manhattan central courthouse.

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Likely to come first is what’s known as a “Sandoval” decision. Here, the judge rules in advance about what prosecutors are allowed to ask Trump if he takes the stand – helping Trump decide whether to do so. (He has said he would, but signs indicate he may not.)

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In this case, prosecutors have asked the judge for several things, such as permission to ask Trump about the two civil fraud trials he just lost: one for defaming E Jean Carroll after she accused him of raping her, which a judge ruled was “substantially true”, and the other for fradulently inflating the value of his properties.

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They also want to grill him, among other matters, about criticism from a judge in a different case that Trump didn’t seem to be a truthful witness. Colour us shocked.

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Well, after all the appeals and bombast and tears, it’s finally here: opening statements in the first criminal trial of a US president.

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Jury selection in the case of the People of the State of New York versus Donald Trump wrapped up last week, though not without some difficulty. Hundreds of prospective jurors were dismissed, several cried and a couple of them quit after they were chosen.

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But at last Judge Juan Merchan has landed on 18 people (12 jurors and six alternates) living in Manhattan who say they don’t have strong enough opinions about Donald Trump to bias them against the facts.

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And facts there are aplenty. Prosecutors accuse Trump of falsifying business records in order to cover up an attempt to influence the 2016 election. Specifically, they say he tried right before that election – at a time when was already facing serious heat because of the Access Hollywood tape, in which he bragged he could sexually assault women because he was famous – to buy the silence of a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who says she had an affair with him 10 years before.

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Prosecutors say Trump feared yet another sex scandal could sink his election prospects, so he paid her to keep silent about the affair, his coercive behavior in the bedroom, and of course his “toadstool”.

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It’s going to be edifying. We’re at the courthouse. Stay with us.

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Hugo Lowell

Donald Trump was confronted on Monday with the unsavory details of his alleged attempt to illegally influence the 2016 election by covering up his hush-money payments to the adult film star Stormy Daniels, as the first criminal trial for a former US president got under way in New York.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records – where the hush-money payments were recorded as legal expenses – to cover up the affair just weeks before the election.

Here are the key takeaways from the start of the trial.

Donald Trump spoke to the media after court was adjourned for the day, where he complained that the hush-money case is “a case of bookkeeping, which is a very minor thing”. He said:

I’m the leading candidate … and this is what they’re trying to take me off the trail for. Checks being paid to a lawyer.

Trump attacked Michael Cohen, claimingthat the things Cohen got in trouble for “had nothing to do with me”. He said:

[Cohen] represented a lot of people over the years but they take this payment and they call it a legal expense … and this is what I got indicted over.

The former president said he should be campaigning in Georgia, Florida and other places and instead “I’m sitting here and this will go on for a long time,” adding:

It’s very unfair what’s going on and I should be allowed to campaign.

No cameras are allowed inside the Manhattan courtroom during Donald Trump’s hush-money trial, but courtroom sketches mean we are able to get a glimpse of proceedings.

Trump lawyer Alina Habba spoke to reporters a little while earlier as the court took a short recess, where she called the former president’s trials a “disgrace to the American judicial system”, per pool.

Habba, flanked by Christopher Kise and Clifford Robert, said:

The fact that we have two courts not one, criminal and civil, being used against one man because they cannot beat him in the polls is a disgrace to the American judicial system. You should not have two teams of lawyers here today. You should not even be here today, because you didn’t know is the epitome of a witch-hunt.

She did not take any questions.

Victoria Bekiempis

The defense team and prosecutors are still in the courtroom after jurors left.

Lawyers on both sides are squabbling over various objections.

Court adjourns

David Pecker has completed his testimony for the day and is dismissed from the stand. He is expected to return tomorrow.

The jury is slowly filing out.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass asked David Pecker: if the story was big or involved a major figure, would he have final say?

“Yes, I did,” the former publisher said.

The prosecution now appears poised to use Pecker’s testimony for documentary evidence in relation to the conspiracy.

Steinglass asked Pecker to tell jurors what the last four digits of several phone numbers that he used around election time.

When Pecker had trouble remembering one, Steinglass joked, “This isn’t a quiz!” Pecker cackled.

Hugo Lowell

Donald Trump is very attentive to and focused on David Pecker’s testimony.

He has been conferring both with his lawyers Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, in between watching Pecker on the monitor in front of him.

Trump has also started to take notes on the yellow legal pad in front of hm.

Victoria Bekiempis

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is trying to establish that David Pecker had the power as head of AMI to control coverage – which will help him later on as the prosecution tries to prove that Pecker was integral to the catch-and-kill conspiracy. Pecker said:

We used checkbook journalism and we paid for stories. I gave a number to the editors that they could not spend more than $10,000 to investigate or produce or publish a story, anything over $10,000 they would spend on a story, they would have to be vetted and brought up to me, for approval.

Did he have final editorial say, Steinglass pressed. Pecker replied:

Being in the publishing industry for 40 years, I realized early in my career that the only thing that was important is the cover of a magazine, so when the editors produced the story or prepared a cover, we would have a meeting and they would present to me what the story would be, what the concept was, what the cost was going to be.

Victoria Bekiempis

Right now, prosecutor Joshua Steinglass is going through preliminary information, establish who David Pecker is, and why he matters.

This is normally when witnesses first take the stand.

What kind of work do you do? Consulting.

What did you used to do? Pecker said he chaired AMI. The company had titles such as the National Enquirer and The Globe, he said.

Who is David Pecker?

David Pecker was a key Trump ally who served as the CEO of American Media Inc (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer.

Pecker helped Trump by purchasing the rights to potentially damaging stories and then never publishing them, a practice known as “catch and kill”. In 2015, AMI paid $30,000 to Dino Sajudin, a former doorman at Trump Tower, who was trying to sell a story that Trump had allegedly fathered a child out of wedlock.

In June of 2016, AMI paid Karen McDougal, a former Playboy model, $150,000 to suppress a story about an affair. AMI bought the story with the understanding that Trump would reimburse them, according to the indictment. Michael Cohenwould later release a tape of him and Trump discussing repaying Pecker.

In 2016, Dylan Howard, then the editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, alerted Pecker that Daniels had potentially damaging information about Trump, according to the indictment. Pecker advised Howard to reach out to Cohen, and Cohen subsequently negotiated the deal with Stormy Daniels’ lawyer.

Prosecution calls first witness: David Pecker

Victoria Bekiempis

And we’re off to the races. Judge Juan Merchan directs prosecution to call first witness. “The people call David Pecker.”

Pecker, with his silvery hair slicked back, sporting a slate suit and a yellow tie, walked to the witness stand.

He was instructed to raise his right hand while being sworn in and when he was directed to stand in a different direction, offered a smile. He’s seated at the stand.

Prosecutor Joshua Steinglass just said “good afternoon, Mr Pecker,” to which he replied, “Good afternoon.”