Donald Trump Trial Update: Key Players From Opening Arguments

The second week of former President Donald Trump's criminal trial in Manhattan continued Monday, picking up after last week's jury selection process.

Prosecutors laid out for the jury a rough blueprint for the case that they'll be presenting over the next five weeks, while the defense maintained that "Donald Trump is innocent. President Trump did not commit any crimes."

The first witness was also called to the stand, although his testimony was cut short by the court's schedule and won't resume until Tuesday after a hearing on Trump's alleged gag order violations.

Catch up on all of the key players from Monday's trial proceedings below:

For the People: Matthew Colangelo

Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo, a former Justice Department attorney, presented the case on behalf of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office on Monday. Over 45 minutes, Colangelo laid out the case that the prosecution would present to the jury.

Starting with the alleged 2015 meeting between Trump, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen and former American Media, Inc. (AMI) CEO David Pecker, Colangelo went into how the men allegedly orchestrated a cover up to interfere with the 2016 presidential election by concealing Trump's alleged affairs with adult film actress Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Colangelo also previewed several pieces of evidence and names of witnesses that the prosecution would introduce to the jury. He made it immediately clear that prosecutors are aiming to make this case about election interference, beginning his arguments by telling jurors, "This case is about a criminal conspiracy and a cover up."

He told the jury that Trump "orchestrated a scheme to corrupt the 2016 election, and then, he covered up the scheme by lying in his business records over and over and over again."

Colangelo joined Bragg's office in 2022, but he had a varied history of taking on Trump even before joining the district attorney's team.

As the chief counsel for federal initiatives while at the New York attorney general's office, Colangelo led dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration. In 2018, he led the investigation into the Trump Foundation, which led to its dissolution, and for a time, he was one of the lead lawyers on the civil fraud inquiry into the former president.

For the Defense: Todd Blanche

Trump attorney Todd Blanche delivered the defense's opening arguments.

He began by telling jurors that while the former president is "in some ways larger than life," Trump was also the man sitting in front of them in the courtroom, "doing what any of us would do, defending himself."

He told the jury that Trump was not just the 45th president of the United States, but also a man, husband, father, and "just like me."

"We trust that you're going to decide this case based on the evidence that you're going to hear in this courtroom and nothing else," Blanche concluded after trying to discredit Cohen and Daniels. "If you do that, there will be a very swift not guilty verdict."

Blanche has effectively become one of Trump's top lawyers. Not only is he representing him in the Manhattan criminal case, but he is also representing Trump in his two federal criminal cases in Florida and D.C. Blanche, a former federal prosecutor, left New York's oldest law firm to start his own firm and lead Trump's team last April.

The Judge: Juan Merchan

The court heard a lot less from Merchan on Monday than much of last week, when he was leading the jury selection process.

Before the jury was brought in, however, he addressed a couple matters, including last Friday's Sandoval hearing over the possibility of Trump testifying.

He said that if Trump testifies in his own trial, he will allow prosecutors to cross-examine Trump about the ruling in his civil fraud case, his gag order violation in that case, the defamation finding about E. Jean Carroll and his agreement to dissolve the Trump Foundation.

"This Sandoval hearing is a shield and not a sword," Merchan said after reading his ruling.

The Defendant: Donald Trump

Trump, who wore a scowl on his face throughout Monday's trial proceedings, was seen whispering and passing notes to his attorneys during opening arguments. When Merchan read instructions to the jury, Trump glanced briefly at the jury, at times closing his eyes. He looked directly at the 12 New Yorkers who would decide his case while Blanche addressed them.

Outside the courtroom, he told members of the media that, "these are all Biden trials" that prevented him from being on the campaign trail. Trump is the presumptive 2024 Republican White House nominee.

The Public & The Jury

New to the courtroom were dozens of everyday Americans, who arrived at the courthouse in the early hours of a cold April morning. One-by-one, they waited in the public line, hoping to witness a historic criminal trial, the first of any former president.

Last week, there was limited room in the courtroom. Merchan reserved most of the seats for prospective jurors, who were being sifted through by prosecutors and defense attorneys for the trial. There was also a handful of reporters in the room watching the jury selection process.

Twelve jurors and six alternates were impaneled to decide Trump's fate last week. Selecting a fair and impartial jury in Manhattan, where 70 percent of registered voters are Democrats, had been anticipated to be a challenge for the court. About half the prospective jurors who had been called for jury duty excused themselves due to their inability to be fair and impartial. Nonetheless, the DA's office and Trump's team were able to find 18 Manhattanites who did believe they could hear the case by Friday.

The media attention surrounding the trial, however, has continued to pose problems for those on the jury. Two of the jurors who were sworn in last Tuesday asked to be excused on Thursday after expressing concern that they could be identified on public reports. On Friday, three prospective jurors said the trial was making them anxious. One even broke down during the voir dire preliminary questioning.

Merchan kicked off Monday by telling the court that Juror 9—an Upper East Side resident and speech therapist originally from New Jersey—had called to raise issue with the media attention. After conferring with the judge in his office, she agreed to stay on the jury.

The Witness: David Pecker

Pecker was the first witness called to the stand.

Because court ended early on Monday for the Passover holiday, the former publisher only gave about a half hour of testimony. Wearing a gray suit and yellow tie, the 72-year-old testified about being the former chairman, president and CEO of AMI, a position he held from March 1999-August 2020.

He explained that his tabloids, including the National Enquirer, "paid for stories" and that his editors were given $10,000 to spend on investigating and publishing a story. Anything above that threshold needed his approval.

He also offered some background information on Dylan Howard, "a celebrity reporter for American Media" who later became the editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, and Bonnie Fuller, an editor "who was basically killing it" in the celebrity magazine industry and who he later brought over to AMI as the chief editor of Star magazine.

Pecker will return to the stand Tuesday morning to continue his testimony.

Surprise Guest: Alina Habba

Habba, an attorney who previously represented Trump in several of his civil lawsuits, made a surprise appearance at 100 Centre Street on Monday. Per a pool report, she arrived outside the courtroom around 11:57 a.m. with Trump lawyer Chris Kise.

She also delivered a spontaneous press briefing, telling reporters, "The fact that we have two courts not one, criminal and civil, being used against one man because they cannot beat him in the polls is a disgrace to the American judicial system. You should not have two teams of lawyers here today. You should not even be here today, because you didn't know is the epitome of a witch hunt."

Last week, she told The Benny Show, a politically conservative podcast, that she could not represent Trump in the Manhattan criminal case because she was not a criminal lawyer. However, she said "the great news is that, then I can do this and let everybody know what is actually happen."

She was also a frequent guest on Fox News during the first week of the trial.