Breaking down the legal case at the center of the political universe

You're reading the Consider This newsletter, which unpacks one major news story each day. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox, and listen to more from the Consider This podcast.

Caption

Former U.S. President Donald Trump sits in court for his trial for allegedly covering up hush money payments at Manhattan Criminal Court. / Getty Images

1. Charges years in the making.

At this point, it's no secret that former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing several criminal charges in four different cases:

• Two in federal court from special counsel Jack Smith
• Another from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis in Georgia
• And–the one that brought him into court Monday, charged by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

But today, they took on a new form, as the prosecutors in one of the cases began to make their arguments in a Manhattan courtroom.

Since he was charged with 34 felony counts last April, Trump has described the case as "election interference," and attacked nearly anyone involved with it , on social media and the campaign trail. But what does it look like from where he sits?

2. A look from inside the courtroom.

Well to begin, there are no cameras, and social media isn't allowed. It's just twelve of Trump's fellow New Yorkers, weighing the evidence.

NPR's Andrea Bernstein was there, reporting on the first day of opening arguments in the first criminal trial of a former president in U.S. history.

Bernstein noted that the election fraud claim being made by Bragg comes from the 34 counts of falsifying business records that Trump is currently charged with.

"[That] is a felony in New York IF it's done to cover up another crime, which does NOT have to be charged," said Bernstein.

"In this case, the DA is alleging that Trump, Michael Cohen, and another man, supermarket tabloid publisher David Pecker, agreed very early on in the campaign that they would do three things: Pecker would keep his eyes out for negative information, and pay cash, if necessary, to keep it buried. He would print positive stories about Trump, and negative ones about his opponents," Bernstein explained.

Bernstein says the nature of this story, filled with porn stars, playboy models and tabloids had no issue keeping the attention of the jury.

3. Questions for the future

There are the facts of the case, and of course, the sometimes unpredictable winding nature of a trial. So where does a veteran attorney think this case could go?

Here's what Dan Horwitz, a defense lawyer who formerly prosecuted white collar cases for the Manhattan District Attorney's Office predicts:

"I think what you're going to see in the coming days is a lead up to Michael Cohen. And what the prosecution is going to do is they're going to lay down a foundation with testimony from witnesses that are credible. It's going to be like a crescendo of witness upon witness upon witness who are going to come in before Michael Cohen and then come in and testify more toward the middle of the case."

From there, Horwitz says he believes they'll continue with the evidence to argue that in this case, Michael Cohen was telling the truth about the payments made to Trump.