Trump defence team sets out its strategy on eve of opening statements in hush money trial

A member of Donald Trump’s legal team divulged the defence’s plan to “focus on the facts” to show that the former president did nothing wrong, one day before the opening arguments are set to begin in the landmark hush money trial.

Mr Trump is now standing criminal trial — the first president or ex-president ever to do so — over 34 counts of falsifying business records related to payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election in exchange for her silence over an alleged affair. He has denied any wrongdoing.

A full panel of jurors was seated on Friday in Manhattan criminal court, meaning opening arguments could begin as soon as Monday, kicking off the second week of the trial.

“We believe the facts are absolutely on our side, that they are absolutely exonerative” of the former president, Trump attorney Will Scharf said on Fox and Friends Weekend on Sunday.

“As long as the jury focuses on the facts, as long as the jury can see through all the media coverage and all the sensationalism and focus on the actual facts at issue… we believe we have a winning case,” Mr Scharf added.

He also weighed in on how the defence team will cross-examine Michael Cohen, the former president’s lawyer who is considered a star witness for the prosecution in the case. Cohen pleaded guilty in 2018 to federal campaign finance violations related to the hush money payments. At the same time, he also pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about events unrelated to the current criminal case.

“With respect to Michael Cohen, as we’ve said in court pleadings, this is a man who’s been found liable for perjury,” Mr Scharf said.

“I think this is going to be a key theme here … that the prosecution’s witnesses are simply not credible