Donald Trump’s “hush-money” trial has begun in New York, in what is the first-ever criminal prosecution of an American president. In his opening statement, Prosecutor Matthew Colangelo told the jury the case is “about a criminal conspiracy and a cover-up” designed to “influence the presidential election.” Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of fraud relating to US$130,000 paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 US election. Trump’s lawyer Todd Blanche argued the payment to Daniels, made by Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen, was “perfectly legal”. “Spoiler alert. There’s nothing wrong with trying to influence an election. It’s called democracy”, he said. The first witness, David Pecker, ex-publisher of The National Enquirer, is expected to tell the court tomorrow about “catch-and-kill” schemes in which he helped Trump quash negative press. The trial is set to last 6 weeks.