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The key players at centre of Trump's hush-money trial

The case is overseen by a seasoned New York Supreme Court judge aware of Trump's courtroom troubles.

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

asking one of the attorneys to tell todd blanche something. blanche is the one who is giving the statement, the opening statement for the defense team right now. so maya, it sounds like a lot of this is very sort of off script as to how opening statements go. first question, why would there have been an objection. >> they are trying to paint this sinister, it is a crime, entering into a nondisclosure agreement is perfectly legal as something that the prosecution had objected to. >> i can't get in the mind of the prosecution here. i completely agree with temidayo, it's not a common thing to stand up and object, but it sounds like they're getting very concerned about that/blanche is taking up too much of a role of the judge and telling the jury what the law is. it is only the judge that

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

argue that the defendant failed to produce evidence or failed to call witnesses or fail to introduce documents. the defendant has an absolute fifth amendment right not to testify and has an absolute right not to put on a case in the defense. so what mr. blanch is doing here, mr. trump's lawyer, is essentially what you would expect from any good defense lawyer. telling the jury don't believe what you just heard from the government by telling them that no crime was committed, trying to humanize mr. trump in some ways, and then perhaps leaving dangling a bit the prospect that they will have evidence down the road in the trial to demonstrate the things that mr. blanche is saying. again, they don't have to prove anything. so they do have a slight advantage in their opening statement of saying things that they don't later have to back up. the government must back up everything it has said. >> here's what else todd blanche

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

actual funds. i think they're presenting what they expect to be their counternarrative because they have to, and we'll see whether it's effective. >> blanche is now saying president trump had nothing to do with the invoices. he had nothing to do. he was just essentially dealing with a ledger like people deal with their checking account checks, and when you say the president had nothing to do with it, you're in a sense saying he can't be guilty of anything he didn't know about. >> yeah, they're saying where's the intent here? >> there's an interesting thing that one of the prosecutors did in jury voir dire, which essentially he was saying to the jury you understand, right, that, you know, if someone takes a contract out with a hitman to kill their wife, that person's guilty of a crime, right? i mean, that's sort of their way of saying, yeah, donald trump did not have to personally engage in every single act to

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

calls where michael cohen has with trump and then runs across the street and creates the bank account. those are the kinds of things the jury has to decide. >> before the election. >> right before the election and we assume with evidence that's going to come in about just how concerned donald trump's campaign was. >> what do you see, caroline, as the biggest challenge for donald trump's defense team? >> there are a lot. just based on what i'm hearing here, i am fearful that todd blanche may be sort of overselling his hand, going back to the psychology, and i think we've all made this point here that you want to create a rapport with the juror, and you want them to like you. the worst thing you can do is over promise and under deliver. it sounds like blanche is over promising here. there's a lot of reasons why him stating that trump knew nothing about these payments or the purpose thereof is just flatly

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

instructs the jury. it is the jury's job to apply the facts and the evidence to the law. they may be concerned blanche is going to continue to do this. it sounds like a second objection that was sustained, my guess and it's only a guess, that the judge was being very judicious and saying let's let the defense attorney keep going. i haven't heard anything that crosses quite that big line yet, but then something changes. >> he did, and when he sustained it, he actually said that he was striking those past comments. he asked that those comments be stricken from the record. normally the judges give on opening statements a lot of leeway as they do on the closing, right? on the opening, it's a lot of leeway. what would prompt this exchange to happen? >> yeah, well, as temidayo and i were here just cringing. it really, really does not happen that you object during an

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

>> and vaughn, there was an objection just now, right? >> reporter: yeah, there was an objection after todd blanche spoke the words, paint this as sinister, but this is a crime, you will hear it is not. at that point todd blanche said entering into a nondisclosure agreement is perfectly legal. that is when the objection was made. the objection was overruled, though. we assume here at this point in time gets to the heart of the extent to which the defense team is going to try to make the case that everything that was done was done legally and that hush money payments are not in themself a crime. the judge merchan just overruled that objection. we'll try to get a better understanding of how that scene played out. to the discussion that you were just having, what todd blanche is trying to paint donald trump as an unwitting actor here. somebody who was unaware of exactly how the ledger was being

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

filled out, exactly what he was writing checks for and that michael cohen was not getting just reimbursed, he was getting paid because he was his long-time personal lawyer. he is trying to make the case that the ledger is much like a checkbook, and it's just a little denotation here, trying to make out donald trump to be a more sympathetic, unwitting actor in all of this, someone who is being unfairly indicted and charged and prosecuted and that the focus of the hush money payments in and of themselves and maybe salacious, but that in itself is not a crime. todd blanche here trying to make donald trump seem to the jury as somebody who is an innocent man who is being unfairly victimized. >> and vaughn, as you were speaking we're hearing that merchan the judge has called a bench meeting interrupting donald trump's lawyer right now after another objection by the prosecution leading up to this bench meeting, we're quoting blanche as saying you will hear he fought back, like he always

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Prosecution: Trump hush money was 'pure election fraud'

Defence says the ex-president committed no crimes; alls star witness an admitted liar.

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Trump on Trial New York v. Donald Trump

think of donald trump, mar-a-lago, trump tower. >> or how he built his brand. he did not build his brand as a frugal businessman. he has taken a lot of heat for, if you consider frug ality as being don't pay your bills, don't pay your lawyers, that's another issue. a frugal businessman is one that might be difficult -- it's different though, right? if you're going into a trial, a serious felony trial, you do want an opening to build a picture of the defendant, right? you want it to be a favorable view. i don't know that there's anything that todd blanche can say really. he's going to have to pretty much hone in on the facts, right? >> that's the thing. you don't have that ability here because you can't romanticize that donald trump is this frugal, humble, modest businessman. that's nothing to do with the trump brand. what you do is attack the

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