Trump trial day 5 recap: Opening arguments wrap, witness testimony begins | The Excerpt

On Tuesday’s episode of The Excerpt podcast: USA TODAY Justice Department Correspondent Aysha Bagchi recaps opening arguments in Donald Trump's hush money trial. A judge approves safeguards for Donald Trump's $175 million civil business fraud appeal bond. Tensions over the Israel-Hamas war continue on college campuses. USA TODAY Supreme Court Correspondent Maureen Groppe breaks down a major case centered on ticketing the homeless. Britain approves a Rwanda asylum seekers plan. The World Anti-Doping Agency says 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive before Tokyo Olympics.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it.  This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and today is Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024. This is The Excerpt.

Today moving on to witness testimony in Trump's hush money trial, plus tensions continue on college campuses over the war in Gaza. And we look at a major Supreme Court case centered on homelessness.

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Lawyers made their opening arguments yesterday in the hush money trial of former President Donald Trump. I caught up with USA TODAY Justice Department correspondent, Aysha Bagchi for a recap.

Aysha, thanks for hopping on today.

Aysha Bagchi:

I'm glad to be here, Taylor.

Taylor Wilson:

Let's start with the prosecution. What did we hear from the prosecution's opening arguments yesterday?

Aysha Bagchi:

The prosecution said that Donald Trump's actions that are at issue in this case were election fraud, pure and simple. So they used very strong language to go after what can seem kind of boring charges on the surface, 34 counts of falsifying business records. That sounds really technical and about paperwork, but the big argument the prosecutors made is this is really about unlawfully interfering in the 2016 presidential election.

So they're getting at the heart of allegations about what it means to interfere in the electoral process in the United States. And they said that Donald Trump participated in a conspiracy to unlawfully interfere in the presidential election by paying this hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, authorizing his lawyer to pay it and then sending him reimbursement checks afterwards and essentially lying about what those checks were for.

Taylor Wilson:

And on the other side of the coin, what did we hear from the defense and their arguments?

Aysha Bagchi:

The defense opened by saying that Donald Trump is innocent. That was very loud and clear the defense said that if you leave your biases outside the courtroom and you listen to all the evidence, then you're going to find him not guilty very swiftly in this case.

The defense said that there is nothing illegal about a hush money payment. Now, that's going to be a big kind of point of contention probably between the two sides. It's true that people pay hush money payments all the time. It has to do with federal election laws and also New York State election law and tax law about what happened when it comes to this case. But anyway, they said that there's nothing illegal about hush money payments, and they also basically said that Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer is a liar and Cohen's testimony it sounds like it's coming in this case from what the prosecution said, and it really sounds like the defense is going to go hard on Cohen.

They denied that these alleged reimbursement payments from Trump were actually reimbursements for the hush money to Stormy Daniels.

Taylor Wilson:

You mentioned testimony, Aysha. Who took the witness stand yesterday and did we learn anything from this testimony?

Aysha Bagchi:

We got our very first witness in this case. It's David Pecker. He is the former head of a parent company for the National Enquirer. Prosecutors say that he participated in a conspiracy with Donald Trump and Michael Cohen to basically do a catch-and-kill scheme. This is a scheme where you basically snag stories, potential stories that could get out there and hurt you and kill them before they get out. So Pecker was part of this arrangement according to prosecutors.

He used to be a tabloid publisher. He started testifying on Monday. We didn't get into the real heart of his testimony. He said a lot of introductory things about his background. The prosecution set the stage for what he's probably going to be testifying to on Tuesday.

Taylor Wilson:

So witness testimony is going to continue. What can we expect next this week and beyond here, Aysha?

Aysha Bagchi:

That's right. We are going to see more witnesses. We don't know the order of those witnesses. One interesting thing is that the prosecutors were resistant to even telling Trump's lawyers which witnesses are coming next. That's often a courtesy that they extend to the other side. They don't have to. But here because there are some allegations that Trump might've violated the gag order in the case by going after witnesses on his social media site Truth Social, prosecutors have been much more resistant to handing over those witness names.

So we don't know yet who the next witness will be after David Pecker. All indications point to the idea that Michael Cohen is going to be testifying in this case and that he's going to be an important witness. We know that Stormy Daniels may also testify. We know that Karen McDougal may testify. She is someone who also received a hush money payment. This one not from Michael Cohen directly, and it's not a hush money payment that's at the heart of the charges in this case. But the judge has said Karen McDougal can testify. She's a former Playboy model and she says she had an affair with Donald Trump as well, that she can testify because he said it kind of completes the narrative that prosecutors want to tell about this catch-and-kill scheme to snap up stories before they got out to the press ahead of the 2016 election.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Aysha Bagchi covers the Justice Department for USA TODAY. Aysha, thanks for joining us at the start of another busy week.

Aysha Bagchi:

Thank you, Taylor. I'm happy to be here.

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Taylor Wilson:

Meanwhile, Trump agreed yesterday to new restrictions on the $175 million bond in his separate civil New York business fraud case. New York Judge Arthur Engoron approved a new agreement yesterday between Donald Trump's lawyers and State Attorney General Letitia James to reinforce the $175 million bond he posted to appeal the $454 million judgment in the fraud trial for inflating the value of his real estate empire in statements to lenders. James asked for Engoron to void the bond by arguing that Knight Specialty Insurance is not authorized to write bonds in New York.

But at a hearing yesterday, Trump lawyer Christopher Kise assured Engoron that Trump could not move money out of the account without Knight's approval and Charles Schwab financial services would not allow it. Lawyers for Trump and James huddled to reach an agreement under which Schwab will maintain the account in cash and Knight will get exclusive control of the account. Judge Engoron approved the deal.

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Tensions over the Israel-Hamas War continue to boil on college campuses across the country. Columbia University yesterday moved classes online and the university said most classes would be hybrid for the rest of the spring semester. Dozens of students were arrested in protests at Yale and New York University. Videos on social media showed police taking down tents in the protesters NYU encampment. Demonstrators tussled with officers and chanted, "We will not stop. We will not rest. Disclose, divest." A New York police spokesperson said arrests were made after NYU asked police to enforce trespassing violations, but the total number of arrests and citations is still unknown.

Demonstrations have been held in part out of solidarity with protesters at Columbia who set up an encampment last week that led to the arrest of more than 100 students. The protests have fueled a national debate over student demonstrations as campuses grapple with growing unrest over the war in Gaza. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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As record numbers of Americans lack permanent housing, the Supreme Court is taking on a case centered on ticketing the homeless. I spoke with USA TODAY's Supreme Court correspondent, Maureen Groppe, to learn more.

Thanks for hopping on, Maureen.

Maureen Groppe:

Happy to be here.

Taylor Wilson:

So what is the Supreme Court taking on here specifically and what led up to this landing on the Justice's doorstep?

Maureen Groppe:

Well, they're deciding how far cities can go to prevent people from sleeping in public without effectively criminalizing homelessness. Specifically, they're looking at anti-camping rules in the city of Grants Pass, Oregon. The city says these rules apply to everyone and are needed to protect their public spaces. But the challengers say the way they're written and enforced, they only apply to the homeless who have nowhere else to go.

Taylor Wilson:

Maureen, have we seen the Supreme Court weigh in on similar homelessness issues before?

Maureen Groppe:

Yes, but not in decades. In 1972, the court overturned a Jacksonville Florida law which prohibited vacancy.

Taylor Wilson:

How might a 1962 decision from the high court influence where they land on this?

Maureen Groppe:

In '62, the court looked at whether California could criminalize drug addiction. The court said someone could be arrested for using illegal drugs, which is a behavior, but not for being addicted to drugs, which is a status. In a 2018 decision, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said that same reasoning applied to anti-camping rules in Boise, Idaho. The court said the rules couldn't be enforced against homeless people if there weren't enough shelter beds. That same appeals court made a similar decision about the Grants Pass rules, which is what came before the court yesterday.

Taylor Wilson:

So what is the Biden administration saying about this issue?

Maureen Groppe:

Well, even though this case is about the city ordinance, the Biden administration weighed in because homeless encampments are also an issue on federal lands, and the Justice Department is really trying to thread a needle in this case. They agree with the appeals court that people with nowhere else to go can't be completely barred from public spaces. But they think that that rule is being applied too broadly. They instead think it should be based on a person's circumstances such as whether they have no other options or whether they've chosen not to stay in a shelter.

Taylor Wilson:

I'm curious just how severe this issue is nationally at this point. How many Americans lack permanent housing, Maureen, and what could the High Court's decision on this mean broadly for homelessness in America?

Maureen Groppe:

Unfortunately, homelessness has reached a record high. On any given night in the US, more than 600,000 people are likely to be homeless according to federal government statistics. Last year, for example, 40% of homeless individuals slept under bridges, on sidewalks and parks and cars, abandoned buildings and other public locations. So this is an issue that is across the nation and cities are struggling with it. In the case, it may not be decided in the way homeless advocates want it to be, but having this come to the Supreme Court certainly has shined a spotlight on this important issue.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Maureen Groppe covers the Supreme Court for USA TODAY. Thank you, Maureen.

Maureen Groppe:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

A conservative majority in Britain's Parliament has advanced a controversial plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda. The move caps a fight that critics blasted as an expensive, inhumane and impractical way to deal with immigration. British lawmakers though won support last night with the measure aimed at satisfying one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's legislative priorities, that is stopping the boats, namely the small boats filled with thousands of migrants and asylum seekers who cross the English Channel each year from France. In 2018, just under 300 small boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers attempted to reach Britain from France according to Migration Watch UK, an independent research group. By 2022, that figure reached nearly 46,000.

Opponents note this plan may cost more per person than a three-year stay at The Ritz. It may be incompatible with international human rights law and it may not even be an effective policy according to experts.

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The World Anti-Doping Agency is under fire this week after news outlets, including the New York Times, reported that 23 Chinese swimmers quietly tested positive for the same banned substance prior to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. The agency confirmed the news reports over the weekend, including the number of positive tests and the substance involved, trimetazidine, but it said it did not push for the swimmers to be punished at the time because it had accepted the findings of a Chinese investigation, which said the positive tests were caused by contamination at a hotel kitchen, and the athletes were innocent.

The agency also said it did not have the power to disclose the positive tests under current anti-doping rules because China's anti-doping arm ruled that no violations were committed. The scandal has sparked outrage in some parts of the anti-doping world. It's also raised both new and old questions about the convoluted processes and guardrails of the global anti-doping system with the next Summer Olympics in Paris now less than 100 days away. You can read more with a link in today's show notes.

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Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio, and if you're on a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm Taylor Wilson, back tomorrow with more of the Excerpt from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Donald Trump trial day 5 recap: witness testimony begins | The Excerpt