Why it matters: Prosecutors sought to raise the stakes of their case to jurors, arguing that the $130,000 hush money payment was an intentional effort by the former president to try to interfere with the 2016 presidential election.
- They say that the “catch and kill” scheme was an effort to shield negative information about Trump during his 2016 bid for the White House.
Driving the news: “This case is about a criminal conspiracy,” said prosecutor Matthew Colangelo.
- “The defendant, Donald Trump, orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the 2016 presidential election then, then he covered up that conspiracy by lying in his New York business records over and over again.”
Zoom in: The prosecutors’ focus on election interference comes as the New York criminal trial is viewed by some legal experts as the weakest of Trump’s four criminal indictments.ARTICLE HERE