Former US President Donald Trump said it was a “very sad day in America” as he spoke before heading to court for his historic secret trial.
Trump said his trial was an example of “election interference,” calling it “very unfair.”
“People understand what’s happening,” he said, calling the trial a “witch hunt.”
Trump, who secured the Republican nomination for the 2024 US presidential election, told the court: “I’m here instead of being able to be in Pennsylvania, Georgia and many other places campaigning and that’s is very unfair.”
These statements paved the way for weeks of testimony on Trump’s private life.
A panel of New Yorkers – 12 jurors and six alternates – were sworn in Friday after four days of jury selection, and will hear what is the first-ever criminal trial against a former U.S. commander in chief.
Trump is accused of falsifying internal business records as part of an alleged scheme to bury stories he said could damage his 2016 presidential campaign.
At the heart of the allegations is a $130,000 (£106,000) payment made to a porn actor. Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and personal fixer, to allegedly prevent his allegations of a sexual relationship with Trump from surfacing in the final days of the race.
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Prosecutors say Trump obscured the true nature of those payments in internal business documents.
Trump has denied having a sexual relationship with Daniels and his lawyers argue that the payments to Mr. Cohen were legitimate legal fees.
He has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of falsifying business records.
The financial silence case is the first of four Trump indictments to go to trial.